Wand, Knife and Silence
by Celestial Moonlight Blade
Summary: Samantha Zabini, black widow and professional assassin, sees Harry on the doorstep of his abusive relatives and decides to do something about it. She takes him to her home where she raises him in the art of death and sabatoge. Much later, a sixteen year old Harry's name comes out of the Goblet of Fire. Dumbledore will regret that move. Casanova Harry, rating will go up
1. Chapter 1

**Wand, Knife and Silence**

**Moon: And here I am, once again trying to do something a little less common, mostly borne out of my fascination with the fact that Blaise's mother is a Black Widow and the fact that I'm pretty sure an assassin would be a better parent than the Dursleys. For this story I will be ignoring Blaise's characterization in Half-Blood Prince because that's easily my _least _favourite book out of the seven and a wasted opportunity for Rowling. I do not own Harry Potter and...enjoy!**

**Chapter 1: Harry Zabini**

The dust was still settling from the Dark Lord's death as Samantha Zabini made her way through Little Whining towards the airport that would take her home. As a pureblood, she didn't like travelling by muggle lines, but for Samantha it was less that she thought muggles beneath her as she found it cumbersome and frustrating because she always got lost in their gigantic transportation network. Besides, International Portkey would take you home in half the time.

Her idiot husband hadn't even been bothered to provide her with a portkey home in case of emergencies; she had lost her faith in her parent's abilities to find her a match who wasn't either a cruel, inbred bigot or some sort of corrupt noble. She was already schooling herself to put on the wailing and crocodile tears when she returned home; she could summon no real grief over Byzantine's death.

_Anyone who kowtowed to that sick excuse of a dark lord deserved what they got in the end_, she thought scornfully.

Technically, the battle against the Dark Lord hadn't been an immediate concern of hers – she was Italian and lived in her homeland, having only come to Britain to see it's allegedly superior schooling. Despite Hogwart's reputation it ended up a severe disappointment to her, for the teachers didn't bother to make any corrections of their students prejudices and the curriculum was lacking, especially in History of Magic. That class would have you believe the only thing of note that happened in all the years of magic was that there were over a dozen Goblin rebellions.

Samantha's main reason for staying was a boy who'd captured her attention quite without her permission during her tenure at Hogwarts. But after the end of the battle, and what followed it...well. She was going home now.

A young muggle male whistled at her as she walked past. Samantha tossed her dark hair over her shoulder and smirked to herself. She had gotten used to her fair share of male attention over the years, some less welcome than others. Her skin was golden brown and her body slenderly built, lithe. Her eyes were a deep-sea blue-green, inherited from her mother.

It was one of her great advantages, especially whenever she had complete her missions.

Samantha turned onto Privet Drive, looked at her map again and growled in frustration. She was lost, and it was getting quite late. Damn her father for not teaching her more about muggles! Pretending they didn't exist wouldn't make them disappear, and they had to interact at some point.

"I won't have him in here!" A voice shouted. Samantha turned her head to the right and saw the door to number 4 slam shut. There was a small bundle lying on the front steps, abandoned.

Curious despite herself, Samantha approached the house silently.

Her breath caught in her throat, the bundle on the steps was a baby. He had soft wispy black hair, and his eyes were closed in sleep. His skin was soft and pale. And there was a small, lightning-shaped scar on his forehead.

This was Harry Potter! The little boy, barely over a year old, who had vanquished Voldemort when even seasoned wizards had been felled by his power. His tiny body was trembling in the November wind.

Without thinking, Samantha plucked him off the cold stone steps and cradled him carefully, like she did her own son, Blaise. He was light, too light for her comfort. He was a pretty little thing, most likely inherited from his parents – both Lily and James Potter had been notably attractive, after all.

She bit into her lip, orphaned so young, with no one to turn to; for he had no cousins or siblings. He would never know his parents...what a lonely life that would be. Her mind went back to Blaise's cradle, where he was waiting for her return, being tended to by a nurse and the house elves. Harry was just a month younger than him...

Samantha looked up at the house with no small amount of bewilderment. Why was he here, in a muggle neighbourhood? Surely there was a wizarding family who would be willing to take him in, why raise him away from his heritage? What had possessed someone to leave a baby on the front steps of a house? In the middle of November!

The boy snuggled down in her arms. He was still asleep, but undoubtedly responding to the warmth of her embrace. He looked so sweet.

Samantha raised her eyes, hearing shouting continue inside the house. She stepped off the stairs and waited at the edge of the window, listening carefully.

"No! Absolutely not...I'm not having that freak's child inside this house! Her and her wastrel of a husband are the bane of honest, hardworking people like us! They think they can go blow themselves up and dump their brat on us like that?" The man from before was still shouting, his rage nearly rattling the windows.

"But Vernon, he's out protection." A woman protested. "He said that the freak that killed my sister will come back...the boy destroyed him. He might look for us because I'm related to her."

Protection? They weren't talking about a bloody ward, this was a child in question! Who the bloody hell called their nephew a freak?

"What would it ruddy matter Pet? We've got nothing to do with that freakish nonsense!" Vernon snarled. "He should stay with all the other freaks and terrorize them, rather than bringing his presence down on honest, hardworking people like us!"

"He's protection, though," The woman – Pet – said. "Also, he said that he'd pay us for taking care of him. Think of it that way..."

Vernon growled. "I won't have him tainting Dudley."

"He won't! Dudders will always have priority over the boy," Petunia said, as though Harry was a piece of baggage that needed to be gotten rid of as quickly as possible. "We'll give him everything that Dudley doesn't want. We just have to put up with him until it all blows over..."

Unconsciously, Samantha tightened her grip on Harry. She had heard everything she needed to, and it was making her sick. Despite her occupation, she would never lay a hand on a child, and she could tell that these two would. It didn't matter that Harry was their own flesh and blood.

Samantha had plenty of run-ins with unsavoury individuals, and Harry's aunt and uncle were currently falling into one of the worst categories in her mind. Who were these people, that they would treat a child with cruelty? She didn't have to tail this Vernon for several days to know that this man would emotionally mistreat Harry if not worse!

Who would ever leave the boy who lived in a house like this?

Samantha cast a quick diagnostic spell over the house itself. It picked up wards that seemed to be tied to the woman inside the house. Blood wards, an ancient magic that had lain untested for years and had a tendency to unleash horrible punishment for even the slightest breach of it's decree. It was strong, too, and freshly cast. The signature was unmistakable.

_Dumbledore_, she thought darkly. Yes, this would be his style. A cruel upbringing meant nothing in the face of being the _saviour of the wizarding world_, did it? She scowled darkly. That would be so typical of the old nutter; she doubted that the Order would have suffered half the casualties that they had if he hadn't insisted on taking prisoners instead of killing.

She looked down at Harry. He was still asleep despite the noise, and again she was reminded of her own son. Could she honestly go home to him and tell him that he'd left a boy with people who hated him?

Innocent soul. Helpless. "You're coming with me," Samantha whispered, striding up the street with Harry in her arms.

%&%&%&%&%&%&&%&%&%&

"Samantha, my daughter, I'm glad to see your finally home – WHAT IN MERLIN'S NAME?" Her father gave her a rather unorthodox greeting as Samantha finally returned to her mansion in Italy. As she had predicted, she had gotten lost twice in the airport and had to come up with the most ridiculous excuses ever created when her wand messed up several machines at customs. Once again she cursed Ratagin for not having made an emergency portkey and for her severely lacking muggle education.

Samantha walked into the house past her stunned father, Rupert Zabini. He had the same dark hair and skin that she did, though he was noticeably stockier. He was dressed in a suit and tie, making her think that they'd had important visitors over before her arrival. He was a man of old talents, ones that were highly paid for although frowned upon by the public. Usually stoic and level-headed in every situation, apparently the sight of her with a baby was enough to reduce his brain to mush.

Her eyes were on Harry. The boy slept like a log; even her father's shout hadn't awakened him. Samantha was impressed but also concerned, if you slept deeply it was easy for people to sneak up on you when you were vulnerable.

Undoubtedly hearing her husband's cry, Sonia Zabini rushed down the elegant stairwell. She had come to Italy as a foreign half-blood, ensnaring her father's heart _while _he had been sent to assassinate her when she became a member of government. She gave Samantha her sea-storm eyes, her hair was a light brown and her high cheekbones gave her a look of beauty and class.

She halted not far from Samantha and stared at her twenty-three year old daughter, and then at the child in her arms. She took a deep breath and said, "Samantha, darling, please tell me this child isn't from a wedlock. Black-"

"No, mother," Samantha interrupted before her mother could gain steam. Her intimacy with Sirius Black had been something Sonia fretted over for the better part of their interaction, for his family history was not a very kind one. She supposed that in the end, she'd had a point. "He is not mine. This is Harry Potter."

At this, her father wrenched himself away from where he'd been frozen at the doorway and joined his family. "Mother, how is Blaise?" Samantha asked, her son on the forefront of her mind.

"Sleeping. He has missed you terribly." Sonia said.

Samantha was crestfallen, "I'm sorry, but there were things I must do and Ratagin didn't think to have an emergency return key."

"But – Samantha, you must explain this to us. You've _kidnapped _the Potter heir? The trouble we'll get into-" Her mother started, winding up for a rant.

"He's an _orphan _now, mother!" Samantha said, scandalized at the implication that she had stolen Harry from his loving parents. She would have thought her mother knew better than to make such an assumption. "Surely you heard about Lily and James's deaths."

Sonia recoiled slightly, appalled – both by the deaths and how insensitive she'd unintentionally been. "I – no, I hadn't. The information came to us third-hand, we merely heard that a babe inexplicably vanquished a Dark Lord that seasoned wizards had failed to destroy."

"Still! What possessed you to make off with him?" Rupert insisted, having recovered his wits. "Albus Dumbledore-"

"Left him on the doorstep of an uncaring, overgrown beached whale and his self-interested giraffe of a wife," Samantha spat. Harry whimpered, as if sensing the tension in the room. Samantha turned her attention to him, rocking him gently and murmuring soothingly. Harry's face relaxed.

Both her parents stared at her. "Explain," Sonia said, pointing to the couch. "Now."

Samantha sighed and sat down, careful not to jostle Harry too much. Her mother loved her very much, but she could be overbearing at times, although Samantha was now a woman. Perhaps it was simply in a mother's instinct to occasionally treat her children as though they were still that. Her parents immediately took to the seats across from her. "I mean to say," Samantha said with a scowl, "is that the venerated Albus Dumbledore put up a Blood Ward and then dumped Harry on a doorstep, in the middle of November, at the door of two of the most unpleasant muggles I have ever had the misfortune of listening to. He hadn't even been bothered to knock on the door and ask them to bring him inside!"

Sonia's jaw dropped, and after a second her eyes lit up with a flame of righteous anger. Despite her faults, there was one infallible way to set her mother off – the mistreatment of a child. "What? That's an outrage. Are you sure?"

"Yes," Samantha said, "I put my father's skills to work, I didn't have to listen to the entire conversation to know exactly what they were like. It's as if there's nothing else too them – they're the shallowest, worst kind of folk. They would have been emotionally abusive at best, had Harry been left there. In the entire conversation I heard, I never heard them use his name – it was 'freak' or 'boy', as though he were some sort of mangy dog being forced on them."

Sonia's lip curled back. Rupert's eyes narrowed and he became serious.

"Blood ward, you say? What type?"

"It was bound to the...woman," Samantha decided that word was the most she could stay while still being an unstanding young lady, "and she mentioned her sister, so I assume the connection was between her and Lily Potter."

Rupert sat back in his chair, fingers intertwined. "I had heard that Lily Evans was muggleborn, though only through reports of her testing in the regional school fields. She had one of the highest OWL scores in all of Europe when the final results were tallied and exchanged."

"Yes, she had always been extremely intelligent and adept at mastering new spells," Samantha admitted.

"Were you acquainted with her?"

"Not closely," Samantha admitted. "Though not for initial lack of trying. We had exchanged pleasant, friendly conversation in class, but there was something slightly guarded about her. I believe we did not approach each other because I was in Slytherin, and thus tainted by association to the budding Death Eaters who were training there."

Rupert made a disapproving noise. "Prejudice weakens the mind and makes one foolish," he said.

"Measure a man by his wit and his magic, not by his standing," Samantha repeated automatically, the saying having been drummed into her during her training. Her free fingers tapped the silver sheath that was ever-present under her coat.

As an assassin, neither blood status nor wealth nor power held any meaning. It was just a person and his or her defences, and how to get past them. You just judge all your opponents as though they were equal threats. There was no room for anything less.

"I did not share this prejudice."

"Good. You had said as much in many of your letters." Rupert said approvingly. He frowned, "Blood wards are old magic, people weren't even sure if they worked. How desperate was he, if that was the protection he chose for Harry?"

"The charm that he had used before had failed the Potters," Samantha replied. "Perhaps he felt that there was no other option."

Sonia looked slightly disbelieving, but instead she chose to say, "But why those muggles? Even if they hadn't been cruel, he would be raised away from the world of magic. He's the last of one of the oldest families alive. Why?"

Samantha shook her head. "I do not know. Dumbledore was less than forward about many – if any – of the reasons behind the grand schemes he had us complete. He was completely silent about where he had placed Harry; I stumbled upon the house quite by accident."

"You've run diagnostics on him?" Rupert asked. Samantha indicated yes with the slight nod of her head. "Is there any indication of how he defeated the Dark Lord Voldemort?"

Samantha didn't flinch at the name. She thought it was ridiculous, the way the British feared it. It gave him more power over them, for them to fear him so. "He will be magically powerful when he gets older, father." She said. "More so than most students."

"That doesn't surprise me, a Potter with his ancestry." Samantha cast her eyes down upon Harry. "There's something else." It wasn't a question. No matter how adept she got or how well she concealed her emotions, he could still guess her thoughts. He _was _her father, she supposed.

"Yes. There's something inside the scar in his head that troubles me. It is dark magic, but I cannot identify it...that means it is some of the oldest that there is."

Rupert and Sophia's eyes darkened significantly at this. "He was after the boy? Meant to use him for something, no doubt..." Sophia said darkly, looking at the famous scar.

"It could be the reason he approached the Potters alone...no one was sure why before..." Rupert muttered, eyes closed in thought. "I will go to the Succubus in Lunar Avenue and see if she knows anything when I have a moment."

At this Sonia stood up, indicating that the meeting was over. "I will have the house elves prepare another cradle. There's another room in this old house, but perhaps it will be better for him to share with Blaise for now."

Samantha nodded and walked up the stairwell.

Her feet had memorized the path to her son's room; she had tread down it more times than she could count. She opened the ornate door and smiled at the inside. It was a bright red room, with some golden designs painted on the walls. Juliet, one of her maids, was sitting next to her beloved son's crib, a storybook on her lap. The second cradle had been deftly set up in the time it had taken her to ascend the stairs. The house elves took their work seriously.

"How is he, Juliet?" Samantha whispered, walking over to her son's side, settling Harry in the second cradle and pulling a blanket over him.

"Very well, milady," Juliet said softly in Italian. Though Samantha had asked her several times to address her informally, the young maid never seemed to come up with the nerve. "He was happy to know you were coming home today."

Samantha leaned over the side and stroked her son's cheek. He cooed and turned onto his side, eyes closed in sleep. "That is good to hear. You take good care of him when I am gone."

"Anything for you and your family, milady," Juliet said with a smile. She looked over at Harry's crib. "If – If I may be so bold, miss, who is he?"

"This is Harry, Juliet," Samantha responded. "I brought him here because he was not safe at the home he was in. If I have my way, and I hope to, he and Blaise will be brothers."

"I see," Juliet said. "Then shall I tend to him as well?"

"Yes. Take good care of him." Samantha instructed. Juliet nodded and rose from her chair, walking over to the crib.

Samantha gently brushed stray hair out of Blaise's eyes. "I am home, little one," She whispered. "And I am here to stay. I promise."

**Time Skip**

Samantha jumped at the noise of her father slamming their door with all his might. She immediately abandoned her newspaper and rushed out to the hall.

Rupert Zabini looked the picture of fury, a crumpled paper in one hand. Sonia appeared at the top of the stairs and hurried down to join her daughter.

"Father!" Samantha exclaimed. He had gone out to see the Succubus this morning; if that was the source of his broken composure than whatever it was must be gravely serious.

"That monster," Rupert bit out, "Attempted to turn a one year old into a Horcrux."

Twenty years of an assassin's life and Samantha still threw her hands over her mouth in horror. The teacup Sonia had been holding crashed to the ground from her numb fingers. While they hadn't recognized one outright they had both heard of Horcruxes from the darkest rings of wizards, and it had filled them with revulsion. To make one out of an object was bad enough, but a child?

"He succeeded?" Sonia whispered.

Samantha swallowed. This was crucial; for if he had there was no way to destroy the Horcrux without killing Harry, and with a sharp stab in her chest she wasn't sure if she could handle that.

"Not quite." Rupert responded, walking inside and collapsing into his armchair. "Thank Merlin for it, but no. The curse meant to complete the ritual backfired, and left part of his soul clinging to Harry's forehead. Carlie stated that it would be possible for her to remove it, but it would come with a fee and would take delicate work."

"I will pay for it!" Samantha cried, "Let him be rid of it!"

"Of course my child, but this brings up a point that I fear may be reality. If Voldemort was attempting to turn Harry into a Horcrux, there is a strong possibility that he has already created at least one."

A stony silence. Samantha's face hardened into a familiar mask as she considered this. "He will return," She muttered, "And he will come for Harry."

Longer silence. The family of assassins looked at each other and then up the stairwell. "He must be ready," Sonia muttered. "Himself and Blaise, for they will be brothers and together in all things." She looked at her daughter. "Raise them as you were raised."

Samantha nodded and unsheathed her dagger. "I will start when they are old enough," She murmured, "But they must be happy and well-loved."

"Of course." Rupert said with the slightest smile, even though it didn't reach his eyes. "I would expect nothing less from you."

**Time Skip – Hogwarts, 1997**

Dumbledore let out an exhausted sigh and looked around. The room was packed with students in the late afternoon, watching a giant goblet eagerly.

The Tri-Wizard tournament was being held at Hogwarts school this year, and he had gone through a lot of trouble to see this part up.

Harry Potter had vanished from Privet Drive. It was an inescapable fact. He had waited, and worried, for the boy's Hogwarts letter to reach him and for him to return. As long as he was alive, the owls would be able to find him. He needed that boy, he needed the boy-who-lived because no one else had defeated Voldemort. He was certain the dark wizard would return; there had been signs everywhere.

Much to his shock, it was turned back denied, saying that he was enrolled elsewhere! Each year went by and still he did not appear within the school walls. This was impossible, completely unprecedented!

If he had just made sure the stupid muggle bint had taken Harry inside the house, he thought sourly, he wouldn't be in this mess.

Finally, in an act of desperation he had arranged for Harry Potter's name to be put in the Goblet of Fire. This, he thought, would make the boy show up.

There was gasps of shock everywhere when the fourth name had been called. They had sat in that room for an hour, waiting for someone to arrive. Dumbledore was getting frustrated when suddenly there was a revving noise in the hallway.

With a loud bang, the doors were nearly knocked off their hinges. Two motorcycles sped into the room and braked hard, just as several students scrambled to get out of the way.

The two riders stepped off their vehicles. Several girls squeed and gave exaggerated faints. They were completely dressed in leather and dagonhide gloves and boots.

The helmets came off; they were both boys sixteen years old. One was a tanned boy with dark hair and blue eyes. The other had long black hair and the sharpest emerald green eyes in the room. Even under the leather it was obvious he was quite fit, and very handsome.

The boy looked up, tossed his head a bit and said, "Would you look at that, Blaise. We've been summoned!"

The dark boy snorted. "Stating the obvious is not a good first impression, brother."

"Well, we all start somewhere, don't we?" The emerald eyed boy swept his gaze over the crowd. Several girls giggled or bushed madly. He smirked and then looked at a thunderstruck Dumbledore, Maxine and Karkeroff. "I'm Harry Potter. I understand my name somehow came out of the Goblet of Fire?"

**End Chapter**

**Well? Good? Bad? It's just a start, but I hope you'll like it. Welcome Harry the Assassin.**


	2. Chapter 2

**Wand, Knife and Silence**

**Moon: Hello, I'm back! And in this chapter there will be more setting up and a flash of a few potential pairings...and Harry showing off. There will be a little more setting up before we dive into both the plot and the history of the Zabini's. I do not own Harry Potter.**

**Chapter 2: First Impressions**

There was a knock on the door to Grimmauld Place.

Whoever it was had clearly been at the house before, because it was a habit of newcomers to use the doorbell and accidentally set off the portrait of the former family matriarch, Walbulga Black. She would start screaming curses and foul slander upon muggleborns and half bloods until someone managed to shut the curtains again. It was a disturbing experience for a lot of people who came in, almost as much as the clearly disturbed House Elf who worked within the house, muttering to himself and moving objects.

None of this pleased the person inhabiting it, who was often stuck alone with only the mad elf and screaming portrait for company.

The current owner of the house, Sirius Black, was in a right state, pacing up and down the living room lost in his own thoughts. He'd taken to doing this to work out his frustrations, since he couldn't leave his house 'for his own safety' as the head of the Order of the Phoenix put it.

He was Harry's godfather and therein lay the reason for his anger and frustration – he had been trapped in Azkaban for over ten years, and when he finally managed to escape his godson was nowhere to be found. Lost or dead for all he knew, and the old goat Dumbledore had given him no information to go on. Now, after many years of agonized wondering of what had happened to his pup Harry's name had come out of the goblet. And the Headmaster was refusing to tell him _anything _that was going on within the school walls.

No, he was just leaving him in a dark house filled with cold, unhappy memories. Memories of the family who disowned him, who filled his younger brother's head with poison and hatred of supposed 'lesser bloods', who cheered when he joined the Death Eaters – something that lead to his death. Their only redeeming quality was that by the end they were unnerved by how far Voldemort was willing to go to achieve his goals. They refused to join then. _A little to late, _Sirius thought darkly. _By that point Narcissa had married Lucius, and they were funding Voldemort out of the family vault anyway. _

At least he knew Harry was alive. Not like James and Lily.

_Oh James. I'm sorry. I failed my duty as a godfather. Should have gone straight for Harry, shouldn't have left him with Hagrid..._

Then...thirteen years. Thirteen years in the living hell known as Azkaban, with only an animagus form and the knowledge that he was innocent keeping him from succumbing to insanity. The pain of witnessing all his worst memories over and over...there was nothing like it in all the world. No wonder no one escaped from Azkaban without outside help before.

It was when he had seen Peter – the _rat_ – on the shoulder of one of Molly and Arthur's sons that he finally collected the will to escape. Transforming into a dog and swimming all the way through the freezing water, before walking to Hogwarts.

Even after all that, the rat had still managed to get away from him...but there were a few students – Hermione Granger and Ginny Weasley – whom he managed to convince of his innocence. They went to Dumbledore, and the leader of the Order believed them – thankfully.

However, this turned out to be trading one prison for another.

His thoughts were interrupted when the knocking grew more insistent. Scowling, Sirius broke his pacing and walked into the hallway. _At least I won't have to shut dear mother up, _he thought.

Walking up to the door, Sirius put a hand on the handle and swung it open wide, expecting to see a member of the Order with news. Instead, a black shape sprang up behind him and put a wand against his neck.

A black-booted foot kicked the door closed. Sirius felt a surge of panic, was it the Ministry? Here? But how had they found him? Was it true, then, that there was a spy in the Order?

"Always mind your surroundings," She hissed, it was a woman, familiar. Very familiar.

"Samantha?" Sirius whispered. His former girlfriend had caught up with him.

Of course it was her, she was the only person he would have trusted with the location of his house – he'd given it to her a long time ago. He hadn't seen her since the death of the Potters.

It couldn't be; she must have heard the story that Pettigrew had created by luring him into a trap. She wouldn't have known he was innocent. Right? He felt a chill. Was she here to kill him?

He let out a bark as he was roughly turned around and slammed against the wall, the wand digging into the base of his neck. Samantha Zabini was wearing a hood, her dark hair scraped into a ponytail and hidden under it. She was just as beautiful as he remembered her when he finally emerged from Azkaban. Her eyes were burning with an intensity she only got when there was something personal she was dealing with, whether on the battlefield or off.

She was an assassin. Perhaps this shouldn't surprise him.

But if he was going to die...well, there would be worse ways than this.

He felt a sharp prick at his mind and realized with a jolt that Samantha wanted to see his memories of what happened. The fact that she was looking before she killed him made him far happier than he should have been, considering it _was _a trained assassin standing in front of him – former flame or no.

Sirius needed no prompting; he dropped his mental barriers and let her see everything that happened that fateful day. It hurt to remember it, it always did but it wouldn't matter in a few minutes.

Samantha eventually halted the attack and looked searchingly in his eyes. Sirius thought about the first time he'd met her; she had kicked his legs out from under him in second year when she'd caught him hexing a Slytherin firstie.

He'd been smitten from the first moment, even after finding out she was an assassin who could quite feasibly be paid to kill him. James had called him crazy for it.

"I missed you Sam."

The fierceness left Samantha's eyes. She dropped her wand and threw her arms around Sirius's neck, kissing him hard on the lips. Sirius gladly returned it and gripped her tightly. Samantha kept kissing him as they stumbled into the living room.

Samantha looked almost tearful and started speaking rapidly in Italian, Sirius had a good enough grasp on the language to know that she was apologizing for not believing him. He kissed her again, halting her words and stroking her soft cheek. "It's alright," He whispered, "no one else believed me either."

Samantha smiled weakly, "I love you Sirius, it doesn't make a difference I should have stood by you."

"Even if you thought I was a murderer, death eater and traitor? No Sam, I understand your decision. If I hadn't been innocent I would have questioned your judgement. I love you too."

Sirius cradled the witch of his dreams for a few long moments, it was the nicest thing that had happened to him after escaping Azkaban.

Eventually he pulled back and asked, "Samantha do you know what happened to Harry?"

"Do I know, I raised him!" Samantha exclaimed.

"WHAT?" Sirius exclaimed, shocked. "_You _took Harry off the Dursley's doorstep?" He was completely flummuxed, something that apparently brought great amusement to Samantha. "How-Why-?"

"My idiot husband not only got himself killed, but neglected to give me a return portkey." Samantha said with a scowl. "I was approaching the muggle transportation network when I stumbled across him. He was on the front step of his aunt and uncle's house."

Sirius paled. "Not Petunia! She's-"

"I could tell. And her husband is worse." Samantha's eyes narrowed. "I didn't wish to leave a little boy in such an unforgiving environment, but I knew that simply putting him in a magical house here would likely have him grow up spoiled and unsafe – you've seen how many of Voldemort's followers were never even put in prison because they pleaded Imperious! So I took him with me – home, in Italy. I've raised him ever since."

Sirius let out his breath. He couldn't imagine how Petunia would have treated his godson. He had met the woman exactly twice and neither incidents had been pleasant. The thought of Harry having to grow up there made him wince.

He looked at his witch, "Is he happy?"

Samantha's normally stoic expression broke into something like pride; it made her look younger than she was and much lighter. "Yes. He and Blaise are all but inseparable. He's confident and cheerful."

"Will he...will he take on your profession?" Sirius asked slowly.

Assassination was something he could understand the purpose of, but it never failed to make him uncomfortable when he considered it.

Samantha looked seriously at Siruis. "You know who's after him, Sirius. He's already been taught."

Sirius grimaced. "Dumbledore's not going to like that."

**At The Same Time**

Harry knocked his bike's kickstand into place and put his helmet on the seat. There was a babble of muttering within the student body as well as the teachers; he could see many girls and some boys looking at him and Blaise with very unsubtle speculation. The Drumstrang and Beaubaxons teachers were looking amusingly shocked, while Dumbledore looked like someone had stepped on his foot. He had to wonder exactly what the man had been expecting.

He surveyed the crowd in front of him, grinning while examining them with his mind's eye. "Don't need to be shy," He said. "I was asked for, wasn't I?" There was a ripple of nervous giggles. Blaise rolled his eyes long-sufferingly.

Neither boy had been particularly enthused when the news reached them. Spending their seventh year at Hogwarts instead of Verona Initiative had, at first, sounded like a terrible year. Hogwarts was becoming infamous for all the dangerous things that were happening within their walls – a Basilisk petrifying students and Dementors attacking first years were just two nasty highlights of Dumbledore's term as Headmaster.

Their school had officially declined to enter the tournament, so you could imagine the confusion when Harry's name was called anyway. He'd been notified immediately, due to the tournament being a 'binding magical contract' and failure to enter could result in the loss of his magic. Their principal had protested on the grounds that Harry's name had clearly been entered by a third party, but Dumbledore had just waved a hand and insisted that Harry had to come.

Never mind that the fact that he was nowhere near the school – or in the same country for that matter! - should have been enough indication that he hadn't put it in himself. His mother had been furious to hear this; the minister liaison had been all but cowering away from her when she had demanded an explanation.

Nevertheless, in the end Harry was resigned to taking a 'year abroad' study course at Hogwarts. Blaise had elected to go with him over the liason's protests. "Do you honestly expect to stay out of trouble without me watching you?" He had said to Harry with one eyebrow raised. Harry grumpily conceded that he had a point and they were portkeyed to Hogwarts.

Their mother Samantha also came, cursing out the fact that there were no emergency escape clauses the entire way.

Dumbledore eventually recovered his voice. "Welcome, Verona Initiative students. Has your Headmistress arrived yet?"

Blaise shook his head. "Madam Phyrra has to remain at school for the NEWTs. We have come here independently."

Dumbledore frowned, "May I have your name?"

"Blaise Zabini. This is my younger brother, Harry."

Predictably, there was an explosion of chatter, yelling and finger-pointing both by the students and by the staff. Samantha had warned them to expect such a reaction, since Harry wast he so-called 'boy who lived' to these people. Blaise and Harry glanced at each other and sighed. Harry looked through the crowd and caught sight of two girls in different robes sitting in the Hogwarts section.

One was a redhead and the other had blonde hair, and they were both watching the scene carefully, rather than adding to the spectacle. The redhead caught his gaze and returned it steadily. _Pretty girl_.

"The Champions shall come this way."

Blaise nodded at Harry, who squared his shoulders, said "no one touches the bike" and followed the other teenagers into a back room.

%&%&%&%&%&&%&&%%&

Harry walked into the room with his face schooled into a calm, stoic expression. He sized up the competition..._oh, wow. The Beauxbatons champion's a Veela. _The girl in question glanced at him, looked him over and then turned to look at Madam Maxine. She had shimmering blonde hair characteristic of the race, and while she wasn't actively using her Charm, Harry could sense it.

The Drumstrang champion was a heavily-built, stoic figure standing in the corner, his shaggy hair hanging down to his shoulders and his dark eyes grave.

The Hogwarts Champion was a redhead with freckles who was making a point of glaring at Harry, his shoulders stiff with anger. He resembled the redhead who's eye he'd caught at the eye of back in the hall. _Am I prodding in your spotlight, redhead? _He thought drolly. _If it makes you feel any better, I didn't want to be here in the first place. _

"Headmaster!" The redhead exclaimed, "This is the Tri-Wizard tournament. Why, exactly, is there a fourth member?"

"This is completely unprecedented-" Drumstrang Headmaster Igor Karkaroff stated. "I thought you said the Italians did not wish to participate. What's the much-vaunted boy-who-lived doing in Italy in the first place anyway?"

"If I might say something," Harry deadpanned, "I was rather wondering how my name came out of a Goblet I was over a country away from."

There was silence in the room. The redhead scowled and looked haughtily away. The Veela girl looked at him, and when he met her gaze her cheeks flushed slightly. Dumbledore and the other Headmasters were looking around.

"How exactly did you end up in Italy, Harry?" Dumbledore asked in what was meant to be a benevolent tone; Harry could hear underneath it though. There was a good deal of frustration and a little panic.

Harry shrugged. "Apparently I had just been dropped on some person's doorstep in the middle of November. I don't remember anything from that time, I was too young, but my mother found me and raised me like I was her own. I fail to see how that pertains to the current situation, though."

"Call someone in to investigate the Goblet!" The redhead bellowed. "Then we can see exactly how someone could cheat-"

"Thank you, Mister Weasley." Dumbledore interrupted, eyes on Harry. "I admit, this is most irregular, but the contract still stands. Mr Potter will compete alongside the other champions."

Karkaroff scowled at this, but lead his Champion away. The Veela left with Maxine, casting a glance back at Harry as she left.

"Now, Mr Potter, Ronald Weasley will show you to the Gryffindor Quarters. It's getting late and the weighing of the wands is coming up quickly."

"Sir?" Harry said. "I'm not one of your students; I shouldn't enter your towers as it would intrude on those already here. My mother signed out some Guest Quarters for myself and my brother, we will sleep there for the duration of our stay."

"Your brother?" Dumbledore repeated, trying to sound polite but coming off as more pushy than anything else. "You're a Potter, you said."

"I kept my last name to honour the parents who died for me, but I am a Zabini in all aspects. They have been my family for as long as I remember. Blaise is my brother in all ways that matter." Harry said tartly. Being constantly questioned about his adoption had been a sore spot for him over the years. Although it meant little to nothing at Verona Initiative that he was the boy-who-lived, the fact that he was adoptive and keeping his original always resulted in questions he didn't like answering.

"Erm, very well," Dumbledore said, sounding very off-put by Harry's coolness. "Miss Granger is waiting outside; she will show you around."

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Hermione Granger was a pretty girl in her seventh year with a shoulder bag full of books and curly brown hair. _Heh, you don't see attractive librarians at school that often._ Her eyes widened slightly when she saw what Harry was wearing, but she kept her eyes on his face. She extended a hand, "Hello, I'm Hermione Granger."

Harry accepted her hand and instead of shaking it, lifted it to his lips and kissed her fingers. "Charmed. I'm Harry Potter."

Hermione blushed and smiled back at him, brown eyes sparkling slightly. "Welcome to Hogwarts. I'll show you to the guest dorms."

"Thank you," Harry said gracefully. Blaise smirked slightly but walked a step behind Harry as they made their way through the halls. There was a lot of talking going on, and a lot of people watching them.

"Your champion seems to have a bit of a chip on his shoulder," Harry remarked when Ron turned the corner. His eyes were on Hermione, but when he saw her walking with Harry his gaze turned venomous and he stalked up the stairs.

"Ex boyfriends," Hermione said darkly. "Some can't take the hint," She said. She sounded very cranky about this, so Harry didn't push it.

"I have no idea how he's going to survive the first task," Hermione muttered as they turned a corner and reached the guest rooms. There was a separate room for each boy, which was a bit of a surprise but they were the only representatives of their school.

"You know what the first task is?" Harry said with an air of surprise. Blaise took one look at his brother, rolled his eyes, smirked and walked into his room. Hermione turned around and met Harry's eyes, no noticing the hallway was notably devoid of people.

"Well-" Hermione glanced away. "Technically yes, but we're not supposed to tell the Champions about it."

Harry raised an eyebrow. "May I ask how?"

Hermione had the grace to blush. "Well, I did a little looking around because I wanted to help out Ron when I heard his name came out of the cup earlier today. But he's been such an ass, and being called the Hogwarts Champion just made him so much worse, so I broke it off."

"Wow," Harry rolled his eyes, "So, you have a nice, attractive girlfriend who risks getting into trouble to help you and you respond by being an ass. What kind of logic is that?"

Hermione blushed again, her eyes on the floor. "Well, I'm n-not _that _special, really. Just an overachieving know-it-all. That's what most people think."

"Well, most boys wouldn't know a good girlfriend if she was standing in front of them," Harry snarked. "Most of them only go after the most superficially attractive and whine up a storm when it doesn't last for more than three months."

"Thank you," Hermione murmured, staring at her boots.

"I was kind of hoping I could find a study-buddy," Harry continued, she was giving in fast. "I didn't get to bring my friends with me to Hogwarts, and my teachers threatened to give me detention until I'm fifty if I get lazy on NEWT year." He took another lazy step until he was right in front of her.

"Uh, sure! I'd be happy to help," Hermione said shyly. She tried to meet his eyes but she was very embarrassed.

"Great! The last girl I asked for help kind of got my in trouble. You see, she had an older brother, and after a few months he got really annoyed with me." Harry rubbed his wrist. "There's always a catch."

"Really?" Hermione asked. "What exactly did you do?"

Harry put a hand around her neck and pulled her closer. "I'd be happy to show you, if you'd like." He said in her ear.

Hermione stared at him for a second, her breathing had become rather erratic. _Got her_. Harry leaned in and kissed her. After a startled second Hermione threw her arms around his neck and kissed back.

**End Chapter**

**Uh-Huh. Sorry to disappoint anyone, but I don't think H/Hr will be the final couple - Harry's just messing around, to begin with. Don't worry, Hermione will still have a big roll in the story itself. As for Ron's characterization...I know that he's not bad in the original books, in this AU he ended up doing a lot of the things Harry did in the original books (although Hermione, Ginny and Daphne helped a lot) and it's kind of gone to his head. It's fed his complex and he doesn't want The Boy-Who-Lived outshining him now that he's finally got the recognition he wants.**

**Also, Fleur and Krum are not the other Champions, because they graduated a while ago. The two in this story are OCs, I promise to make them actual characters instead of stand-ins.**

** We meet Ginny and Daphne in the next chapter. yes, I like Ginny, she will be a love interest (won't say who yet) so if you don't like her you might want to stop reading here.**

**Read and Review please!**


	3. Chapter 3

**Wand, Knife and Silence**

**Moon: Hello, I'm back! Thanks a bundle to everyone who was kind enough to review. Now, to answer a quick question - Gabrielle Delacour will not be a champion, because even by now she's not old enough...she'd be about twelve now, if my memory serves me correctly. Anyway, this chapter is more about establishing various characters that will be interacting; the first task itself comes up next chapter. **

**I do not own Harry Potter...enjoy!**

**Chapter 3: Before the First Task**

"Well, there goes our chance for a normal, quiet school year," Ginny Weasley said with a sigh as Daphne Greengrass crossed the hall to sit next to her.

"After the Dementors, what else were you expecting?" The Slytherin asked sarcastically. "At least this time we can sit on the sidelines. Harder to get in the line of fire from there."

The redhead threw a companionable arm around her pureblood friend's shoulders, causing a few first year Gryffindors to look at her like she was crazy. It was nothing she wasn't used to.

The blonde haired Slytherin nodded and began gathering her breakfast. "I was wondering when they announced that the tournament was being held here," She said. "It was only a matter of time."

Ginny nodded sourly. Every single one of their years at this school so far had ended up with some nasty surprise waiting around the corner, putting them between life and death.

"You've seen the new boys?" Daphne asked, nodding in the direction of Blaise Zabini, was was standing at the entrance to the hall, the picture of calm reservation, waiting for his adoptive brother to show up. Ginny thought it was odd that Hermione wasn't at breakfast yet; she was usually awake by now. Perhaps she had gone to the library.

"Hard to miss then, after the way they entered school," Ginny giggled. She hadn't seen a motorcycle before, but it looked really cool, and she had watched several people being hit with a blasting hex for trying to mess with it after Harry had left the room.

"Zabini might be needing a shield charm to fend off the girls on his way to class. Was is it about Italian boys?" Daphne asked, tipping her head to indicate Lavander Brown and Pavarti Patil, who were quite visibly gushing over Blaise.

"In a word, exotic, my friend," Ginny said dramatically. Daphne giggled a bit.

The two girls defined odd friendship. No one had expected a Gryffindor and a Slytherin to exchange polite words to each other, much less become so close, with decades of anmisty, prejudice and bitter rivalry having been built up. It had escalated after many Death Eaters were noted Slytherins, causing a belief that all Slytherins would share these dark leanings while Gryffindors were all perfect heroes.

Ginny had believed this initially, but later ended up changing her mind. The event that brought them together was when the Chamber of Secrets was opened.

Daphne had stumbled on Ginny writing in the diary and realized what it was. After a few abortive attempts to warn her where she was often driven off by Ginny's housemates Daphne stole the diary, meaning to present it to Snape. Ginny realized it was missing and gave chase, only for Riddle to manifest when they met in the hallway and drag both of them into the Chamber.

Both girls were severely weakened but not unconscious when they were taken inside. Ginny was understandably panicking but Daphne managed to stay calm. She revealed that she wore a bracelet that she could use to call for help; it was something many high-class female Heirs wore in case of abduction or other threats.

Riddle offered to let Daphne go if she left Ginny to him; to the redhead's amazement Daphne refused and said that she was going to tell the Staff where they were. The door to the chamber was still open so someone could come to their rescue.

Riddle threatened her, but Daphne activated it anyway, sending an alarm to both her sister and her parents. Astoria immediately went to her Head of House, who would follow the alarm to its source.

Riddle, having taken Daphne's wand, attempted to curse her. Ginny managed to cast a shield charm over herself and the Slytherin in time, though it buckled and broke under repeated pressure. If Daphne was going to risk herself for Ginny than she would do the same. The ghostly apparition hadn't fully formed yet, so Ginny hit it with a disarming curse, causing it to drop Daphne's wand and break apart momentarily.

Daphne managed to pick it up, and together they protected themselves until Snape and McGonagal came to their rescue. The two girls were inseparable ever since, studying together with Astoria occasionally joining in.

"I've heard about their mother," Daphne said, causing Ginny to look at her. "Ever heard of the term Black Widow?"

"The spider?" Ginny asked.

"Well, yes, but it also refers to a woman who marries and then murders her husband, usually gaining all his assets in the process by playing weeping widow." Daphne said, still watching Blaise. "There's some speculation that Samantha Zabini is one – she's been married to total pieces of garbage four times and each one of them has met mysterious ends."

Ginny shivered. "Do you think it's true?"

"I think anyone who's been married four times and has each husband die before she reaches 35 has something to hide," Daphne murmured. "Now mind you each of those guys was a nasty piece of work, which makes me wonder, if she really is a black widow if those choices are intentional."

Ginny thought about that, "You're wondering if she's taught her sons to do this too." She realized.

Daphne nodded. "It's not much of a stretch, and there's definitely the question of why and how Lady Zabini raised the boy-who-lived. It's all over the Prophet and everyone has an opinion. Apparently Samantha Zabini and Sirius Black were involved; Rita seems to think that this is part of their master plan for turning Potter into a servant for the dark lord."

"I didn't know that," Ginny exclaimed.

A second later, Harry walked into the Hall with Hermione right behind him, her hair in a state of disarray. Blaise looked at the two of them, shook his head and asked something. Hermione pointed towards Ginny and Daphne and the three of them walked towards them.

"Looks like we're about to see if Rita's ramblings have any merit," Ginny said.

%&%&%&%&%&%&%&%&%&

"Harry, Blaise, these are two good friends of mine, Ginny Weasley and Daphne Greengrass," Hermione said. She couldn't look Harry directly in the eye after her...experience last night, or she wouldn't be able to stop blushing or grinning like an idiot.

It had been an awakening experience, changing the way she felt about herself. Beforehand she hadn't given such relations much of a thought, having been very focused on her academic word, but last night had effectively blown her away and made her seriously consider the before-foreign possibility that she might want a permanent male partner in her life. Before, idle, temporary flirtations to provide a distraction from stress or worry had been as far as she had ever gone, having been more in love with her work than either of her previous boyfriends.

Probably contributing to this was the fact that neither boy had been particularly interesting...or intelligent, on closer inspection.

Despite Harry's outward attitude, there were sparks of intelligence to some of the things that he said that lead her to believe that he was hiding exactly how smart he really was. Whether to throw off the other champions or as a safety measure, Hermione wasn't sure.

There was no denying that there was a charm to him, considering how quickly he had gotten under her shields, and how easily he'd gotten her to volunteer information that would likely get her in serious trouble had she been discovered. Harry had a vibe of having a way with girls, her being no exception.

Hermione wondered how her two friends would take the boys.

Harry smiled at the two girls, he recognized them as the two he'd picked out last night. "Lovely to meet two beautiful young ladies. Mind if we sit here?"

"Not at all," Daphne said mildly. If she was reserved about meeting them due to their mother's alleged reputation, she was giving no sign of it. Her eyes showed nothing but friendliness as the two boys sat down at the Gryffindor table.

Blaise rolled his eyes, "Feel free to ignore him, Harry hits on every other girl he talks to." Hermione's cheeks flushed and she looked around shiftily.

Ginny made a production of delicately raising an eyebrow. "Are you implying you're just sitting here to flirt?"

Harry scowled. "Blaise, you're exaggerating. I don't chat up _every _pretty girl, just the ones I'm interested in." He scowled as his brother snorted in disbelief. "Actually, I was rather hoping to hear more about the school I'll be staying with for these next few months."

Blaise chuckled. "Whatever you say, brother." He sat down next to Ginny, while Harry took the seat between Daphne and Hermione.

"So," Ginny said, "What's Verona Initiative like? I hear it's one of the biggest schools in the world."

"There's a high demand; houses over a thousand students. Our teachers makes even the boring things fun," Harry said proudly. He was British-born, but growing up in Italy had given him a rich Italian accent. "The Duelling courses it has produce some of the best fighters in the world. You get to handle man-eating plants in Herbology. History of Magic is _fascinating._"

"History of Magic? Fascinating?" Daphne echoed. She had gotten so used to sleeping through Binn's lectures it never occurred to her that the subject could be interesting. "...Wow."

"You have a duelling course?" Ginny asked enviously. She had wanted to take a class that could turn her into a duellist like Professor Flitwick, but the closest she'd ever gotten to such a class was Defence Against the Dark Arts, which aside from Lupin had consistently sub-par teachers.

"You don't have one?" Harry looked scandalized. He had been taking Duelling ever since his first year and he loved it. Not having it at school would automatically fail it in his opinion.

"No. It's supposed to be part of Defence Against the Dark Arts." Ginny said.

Blaise frowned. "Why's that? They can be mutually exclusive. Besides, they offer very different approaches to different situations. DADA mostly teaches you defence against long-term curses and cursed objects, doesn't it?"

"Sort of," Daphne said. "I think the teachers here merged the two classes at some point." She muttered, "Which would be fine, if the teachers weren't so terrible."

"Terrible?" Blaise echoed.

"Let me put it this way," The blonde deadpanned, "Our most competent teacher had to resign after one year because he was a werewolf."

Harry frowned. "Our History of Magic teacher is a werewolf, and she's been at school for over ten years. Why did he have to resign?"

Ginny's eyes widened at this information. "Seriously? I thought Dark Creatures were restricted from teaching."

"That was before the Wolfsbane potion was created." Harry said, still frowning. "Isn't that available here? With it, werewolves can suppress the killing instinct and become harmless. It's perfectly safe for them to teach as long as they take it consistently."

"It is used here," Ginny said. "But for some reason that isn't enough for the Ministry of Magic." Under her breath she added, "Frigging useless politicians."

"I agree with you there," Blaise sighed. "That's disturbing. How did this guy teach?"

"His name is Remus Lupin. Brilliant guy. He taught us a great deal about dark creatures." Ginny said. "That year gave us our best Europe-wide marks."

"You read the international statistics?" Hermione said, shocked. "Why didn't you say so Ginny? I thought I was the only one who did that!"

"You're not the only overachiever, Hermi. I got it from you." Ginny said dryly.

Hermione raised her head indigently and said, "Schoolwork is important."

Harry glanced at her slyly and said, "Of course it is, but spend to long in the library and you can miss out on things." Hermione blushed hotly and stared down at her plate.

Blaise gave Harry a long-suffering look and asked, "Harry, please tell me you're at least preparing for the tournament? Not getting to _distracted_?" He put emphasis on the last word.

"Of course I am!" Harry exclaimed. "There's a lot to do, after all!"

"Good luck," Blaise said under his breath.

Clearly, he had done this before, because Harry caught the words regardless. "I'll be needing it, Blaise. The first task is stealing an egg-shaped prize from a nesting dragon."

Blaise nearly choked on his drink and set it down hard. This action was unintentionally mirrored by Daphne, who covered it with a coughing fit. "I'm sorry, what did you just say? You're going to try to take an _egg-shaped _prize from a _nesting _dragon?" He repeated.

"Yes," Harry confirmed. "A young one, too. Just recently separated from her mate, if I understand correctly."

Ginny stared at the enigmatic boy-who-lived, wondering how he could be so blase about this. She knew from Charlie how dangerous dragons were, especially females with young.

Blaise stared at Harry for a second, eyes wide. "...So let's see if I understand this. You will be approaching a dragon, one of the most dangerous creatures in existence, when she will be at her most aggressive and violent, to take _from her nest _something that looks _just like _the eggs she will be guarding with her life?"

"Basically," Harry said cheerfully.

"That is _not _funny!" Blaise said hotly. "This task could turn deadly in the blink of an eye, Harry! Even none but the highest of the Dark Creature contests have tasks this dangerous! At least takes this seriously unless you feel like dying!"

"I'm not going to die! And I assure you, I'm taking it completely seriously. I already have a plan in mind; it puts many of my skills to use. Have a little faith!" Harry protested.

"Speaking of the first task, how did you know what it was going to be?" Daphne frowned. "The teachers aren't supposed to tell."

"I have my ways," Harry said breezily. A few seats away from him, Hermione took a sudden intense interest in her breakfast.

Blaise looked between his brother and Hermione, and a look of resigned recognition crossed his face. "You didn't," He deadpanned. "You've only been here for a _day_."

"This coming from the guy who approached a pair of twins for 'help' with his OWLs, I'm finding that a little hypocritical." Harry said mildly.

Blaise flushed a little, causing Daphne to snicker.

"Oh, the ladykillers. I tremble. We best watch our backs, Ginny, or our virtue could be stolen out from under us!" She said dramatically. Ginny laughed and feigned fainting in fear of the very idea.

The Zabini boys stared at them for a second before they started laughing as well. Hermione looked mortally embarrassed, though she giggled a bit as well.

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Draco watched the boy-who-lived and his brother walk over to the Gryffindor table, eyes narrowed, considering his stance.

His father had wanted him to befriend the boy-who-lived since the beginning, though that was obviously hampered by his disappearance. Lucius had just dodged jail for the second time after it was discovered that he had the Dark Mark on his arm; some positive publicity would likely do them well. The Zabini family was mostly pure-blood; Samantha's mother was a half-blood, and Lily Evans had been a muggleborn, but that was negligible. The rest of the family was pure, and Harry would have been raised in that environment.

On the other hand, Draco wasn't deaf to Samantha Zabini's reputation. She had fought on Dumbledore's side of the war the first time it happened, although apparently she disagreed with many of his policies. Perhaps suggesting such an alliance could have dangerous consequences, considering both his family history and the nature of many of the woman's dead husbands.

He knew it was extremely likely that she passed her skills as well as her ideals – whatever they may be – down to her sons.

He would have to be careful when he did approach the boy then...it would be better to establish himself as a staunch ally before they found out about his family's past.

Draco couldn't escape the fact that his father was a Death Eater, but he could rise above it with effort. This would prove to be a good place to start.

Italy was a bit of an enigma when it came to blood purity; it was not openly professed or venerated, and most purebloods who believed in it kept it under their hats. Given Samantha's history, it was unlikely that she was one of these, but it never hurt to observe.

Speaking of observing, Draco glanced to the right at a girl who'd been haunting his thoughts for a long time now.

Astoria Greengrass was watching her sister talk with the two boys with a critical expression, twisting a strand of golden hair between her fingers. She was likely debating whether or not to join them, Draco mused.

He had gained a vested interest in the younger Greengrass after the disastrous end of his fifth year and his nearly deadly sixth one; in which she had undoubtedly saved his neck on more than one occasion. He owed her and he hated leaving debts unpaid.

The problem was finding a way to approach her while her overprotective sister hovered over her like a hawk.

But if Daphne was distracted this year, perhaps Draco could finally get closer to Astoria.

She was much easier to talk to than Pansy, who seemed to lower the intelligence of everyone in the room whenever she opened her mouth.

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Carol Winter was making a point of not looking at Harry as they walked towards the tent. His green eyes had an extremely unnerving effect on her, and she wasn't about to let him know it.

She was aware of what her Charm did to many men – she was a half veela, after all, there was no way she didn't know – but she'd never been on the receiving end of a similar feeling. It wasn't something she was familiar with and not entirely happy about.

Sure, the Potter-Zabini boy was attractive, but there was also a restraint to him. His eyes admired her but didn't eat her up, or make it obvious he was imaging her undressed. He didn't whistle or make lewd remarks like some boys had. The two times he had spoken to her he was completely calm and rational.

Carol locked her fingers together to keep them from shaking. Harry made her nervous, and she couldn't be nervous walking into this.

Carol shook her head and focused on the tent, where Ludo Bagman was getting ready to decide who was getting which dragon. Ronald Weasley, the Hogwarts champion, was giving her looks that quite frankly made her skin crawl.

Her friend Fleur had warned her to expect these kinds of looks was she matured before she graduated. Carol hoped that she wouldn't have to interact with Weasley a lot. It was unsettling, and made her wish that she was as young as Gabrielle again if it meant he would stop looking at her.

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Dmitri Starikov watched Zabini out of the corner of his eye. He'd been assessing the other Champions since they met in the building. The Potter boy's entrance had been unexpected, and adding him to the variable had left an unsteadiness to the equation that was worrying him.

The Weasley boy didn't strike him as much of a challenge...in fact, Dmitri was wondering how exactly he was planning to survive the three challenges. He didn't look very smart in any respects.

Winter was more of a threat, definitely. Her Charm was..._distracting_, to say the least, but she was smart as well as pretty. She was very pointedly not preforming any magic before the first trail, so he was in the dark about the extent of her capabilities, but her magical core was strong.

Harry was his main concern. Dmitri couldn't read him. His outward attitude was off-putting, and the Russian-born Drumstrang student had a feeling that was entirely intentional.

He was going to have to walk into the competition blind in regards to the fourth champion, and it was dangerous to have a blind spot.

**End Chapter**

**Draco will not be an instant good guy, but he's on the fence right now and has the potential to get better. Carol and Dmitri will not hog screen time, I Pinkie Promise; I hope they're at least interesting. Also, what interests people more - Harry/Ginny and Blaise/Daphne, or Harry/Daphne and Blaise/Ginny? I've never tried B/G before and I admit it interest me, but for some reason the character lists switch it up so Ginny's the second character. What are my readers looking for, though?**

**Read, Review and give your opinion, please!**


	4. Chapter 4

**Wand, Knife and Silence**

**Moon: Alright, firstly the most popular choice of pairings seems to be Harry/Daphne and Blaise/Ginny. I like the idea, so unless the consensus changes I'll be sticking with that. Secondly, these first four chapters are getting establishing out of the way - expect the next ones to be a longer. Much longer. Thirdly - I really suck at battle scenes, so I'm sorry if the dragon fight seems choppy - I rewrote it four times. I do not own Harry Potter.**

**Chapter 4: The First Task**

For his first task, Harry would be facing a Hungarian Horntail. Red scales hard as metal, fangs that could tear through rock, horns that could pierce almost anything, and firey breath that could melt the walls of the Ministry – the Horntail was one of the most dangerous breeds alive and the single most dangerous dragon out of the four that had been brought here.

_It would be just my luck, _Harry thought dryly as he stared up at the colossal beast, _That I would get the deadliest dragon of the bunch. Second point for this being a conspiracy._

It would be a pity that his mother wouldn't be seeing this. _Maybe I can speak to it. Dragons aren't quite the same as snakes, but their languages are close together, for the first dragon was a lowly reptile before he gained his power. If I can tell her that one of her eggs is an imposter, she might actually let me approach without roasting me. _

_But that doesn't change the fact I'll have to subdue her before I can say anything. And even then she still might not understand me, and then I might have to knock her out. Not a good situation to be in. _

_Think in my feet. _

As Harry entered the arena, he was momentarily dumbstruck by the appearance of the dragon before him. It was just as big as he thought, but the Hungarian Horntail seemed almost placid. It sat in the middle of the outcropping, just above where he imagined the nest would be, and casually turned its head. Two large eyes stared as Harry as he wandered into the arena. The dragon's maw hung open ever so slightly, letting out what Harry bizarrely related to a purr.

The dragon looked at Harry. Harry looked at the dragon. For a moment, the entire stadium was quiet. The only sound that could be heard was the breath of the large beast, and even the wind had gone still.

Harry took a single step forward.

As if someone had thrown a switch inside its massive head, the dragon became hostile in the blink of an eye. It reared back, arched its spine, and let out a roar like a million cannons going off at once. Harry was nearly thrown backwards by the sheer force of the hot air.

_Remember your training, Harry_. He put one foot behind him in a battle stance and drew his wand. The dragon fell back into a crouch, its motion shaking the ground. Carefully, Harry edged to his left, one hand reaching behind him and clasping his dagger. His mind balanced his spells, selecting and discarding options until one spell clicked. Raising his wand, he sucked in air and prepared to strike.

The dragon lashed out just as Harry cast his spell. The tail slammed into his stomach with force that would have broken every bone in his torso under normal circumstances. The crowd collectively gasped in shock as Harry bounced harmlessly off a nearby rock and rolled right back to his feet, not in any sort of visible pain.

The blow had winded him, but it had the affect he had intended. The Horntail looked hissed and flattened herself against the rocks, looking at him with blazing, calculated orange eyes. Harry wondered once again why, exactly, whoever came up with this tournament deemed it a good idea to send seventeen year olds up against dragons.

Dragons were _not _dumb beasts; some could touch the World's magic and some could even speak human languages.

Now the Horntail knew that he was on stronger ground than the average human and she would turn to different tactics. Now he just needed to get the chain around her neck. An internal counter began to click in his head. Seven minutes until the Augmentation wore off. He needed to be quick.

The dragon squinted in confusion when Harry ran to one side, this time the right. It tracked him with suspicious eyes until he had run something like five metres, and then exhaled a burst of flame. He dove, the burst splashing the ground behind him. Harry landed on his stomach and was pushing himself to his feet as a second burst hit the ground right beside him. Liquid flame caught his left sleeve and within seconds began to spread. Harry muttered a curse at himself and hit his arm with a water spell.

He pulled backwards, trying to lead her away from the nest.

The Horntail pulled violently on the chain keeping it in the area, and suddenly there was a metallic SNAP.

Harry stared as the dragon spread her wings and took to the air, no longer bound to the ground. For a second, his breath was caught in his throat. And then -

_Oh. MEDEA. THE CHAIN. _ Harry reached out for the chain against his better judgement. As if he could somehow fix the fact that several twenty-pound iron links had been ripped apart.

_Now what! _

Harry looked at the chain and them up at the monster, throwing up a shield charm over himself. Not a second too soon, either.

White-hot flames beat down at him, smashing against the bright blue aura and spreading all around him. _If I were any younger, that would have killed me. _He could hear people screaming. It was very distracting.

Harry looked at the chain again, and then up at the Horntail, who was circling above him about to make another pass. She swept down, talons open, and Harry smiled for the first time since the battle started.

He cancelled his shield, and said, "Accio Chain!" The heavy metal chains obediently flew towards him. "Weightless!" He ordered, and they became light in his hands. He jumped onto one of the high rocks and waited as the dragon beard down at him.

Smirking, he opened his arms in the universal gesture of 'bring it'. She flew down closer...closer... closer...there!

Harry jumped right up onto the dragon's leg. The air was knocked out of his lungs for the second time in three minutes. _Running out of time_. He swung out of the way of the huge spiked tail, which attempted to swat him off. The dragon screeched in rage and her entire body spasmed. Harry barely managed to keep his grip. Then he let go.

Self-propelled flight felt amazing. Harry let out a shout of euphoria as he fell through the air, connected to nothing save the now light chains. If he hadn't been thinking like an automaton, he would have forgotten to de-charm the chain. For a few seconds, gravity seemed to have given up. Then it kicked back in and gripped the chains. Harry fell, his grip clenched around the metal chain. His arm felt like it was going to be ripped from its socket, but he didn't care.

Another screech that sounded like a rockslide rang from the dragon as the crushing weight of the chain around her midsection took hold. She flapped her wings against the pull, but the lack of flight over the past week as she was being shuffled to the school, and then being kept in an enclosed environment had taken its tool.

Harry's feet eventually touched the ground. Instantly, he conjured a giant rock on top of his end of the chain. Effectively pinned, the dragon dropped to the ground. Harry ran up along her back and grabbed onto her horns.

"**Great Mother, if you would let me speak, I could tell you that I mean no harm." **He hissed out. The Horntail abruptly went still, her wings stopping their frantic flapping.

"**yOu sPeAkE." **She snarled out.

"**I do, Great Mother. I am honoured to be in your presence." **

"**YoUr tOnE Is rEspEcfUl, bUt yOu ARe hErE tO SteAl mY YoUngE." **The nesting dragon retorted.

"**My lady, I wish no harm upon your young. There is an egg in your nest that is not an egg at all – it is a danger to your real children! Please, let me help you by taking this false egg from your nest." **Harry implored, putting a hand on

"**FaLsE EgG." **The dragon growled, her massive head swinging towards her nest. Harry could feel the mother dragon bristling beneath him. **"AccUrSeD TwO-LeGGeDS AlTerED mY nEST! HoW Do I kNoW yoU wILl nOt do ThE SamE?"**

"**I give it on my word as a Speaker." **

"What's he doing?" Ginny whispered to Blaise. Daphne couldn't help but agree; no one was entirely sure what was going on. After a spectacular ariel manoeuvre Harry had remained stationary on the dragon's head, and it seemed to just be snarling incoherently. Many students were leaning on the edges of their seats to get a good look.

The Horntail paused for a long moment. Then, to the astonishment of the crowd, the dragon lowered her head and allowed Harry to step off her and walk towards her nest unchallenged.

"Oh Merlin," Daphne breathed. The dragon trusted Harry to approach her nest? That never happened!

Carefully the young man picked up the false egg and showed it to the beast. It let out a snarl and bowed her head. Harry returned the gesture before raising the egg to the stands.

Blaise shook his head, "You crazy son of a bitch," he muttered before starting to clap, along with most of the stands, many of whom were giving a standing ovation.

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Harry was lead into the tent where the other champions had been treated for injury when he was suddenly wrapped up in someone's embrace. A second later he realized it was his mother.

"Nesting dragon!" Samantha exclaimed, running her fingers through his hair. "The things these people come up with! Are you hurt?"

"I feel like my arm has been dislocated," Harry said, "And I think my hair's a little singed. Apart from that I'm in remarkably good shape. I was expecting that to be more painful. How much did you see?" He added hopefully, untangling himself from his mother. He was tall for his age; almost as tall as her.

Samantha smiled at her adoptive son, "Just the last part. You preformed brilliantly, Harry."

Harry grinned. "I had good teachers."

His eyes flitted to her side, where a huge black dog that looked remarkably like a Grim was sitting, looking at him with a distinctly human expression. A strangely familiar one. But when he tried to reach for any memories he might have had, they slipped away from him.

Harry glanced up at his mother questioningly; she wouldn't have brought an animagus here unless it was important.

Softly, Samantha said, "Harry, this is your godfather. We cannot speak to him here, it isn't safe, but I wanted you to meet him soon."

"..." Harry looked down at the dog for a long moment before reaching out and putting a hand on his head, gently scratching him between the ears. Understanding finally came to him "Padfoot," He murmured.

The dog barked happily and nuzzled Harry's hand.

Samantha didn't have to say anything. She smiled.

There were footsteps approaching the tent, but she recognized them as Blaise's; his pacing and the rhythm of his footfalls were something that the family had committed to memory. It was one way to recognize an imposter, for no matter what

Harry knelt and hugged Padfoot, resting his forehead between the dogs ears. A second later, Blaise's voice was heard outside arguing with the medic. She seemed frustrated, but she gave in, and after a moment Blaise ran into the tent.

"You're a maniac." Blaise snapped before throwing his arms around Harry's shoulders.

"I'll take that as a compliment, Blaise, seeing as it did get the job done." Harry retorted, still grinning as he returned the hug.

"Jumping onto a flying dragon? Honestly?" Blaise said. "If the Augmentation hadn't held, you would have been broken in half."

"I needed her to see me as an equal if I was going to talk to her," Harry responded. "Besides, thinking outside the box has always been my forte."

"For better or for worse," Blaise sighed and nodded at this. "I suppose I can't begrudge you of that, since it's always been your way of solving problems. But this is going to draw a lot of attention to you, you know."

Harry sighed at this. "Attention was unavoidable, Blaise. These people were going to be all over the 'boy-who-lived' the moment he reappeared in Britain. I don't like it, and the lack of secrecy can make our intended movements difficult, but we'll have to work with it."

There were more footsteps. Harry looked up in surprise to see Daphne and Ginny appear in front of the tent and then walk over, eyes alight.

"That was incredible!" Daphne exclaimed, skidding to a halt a few feet away when she spotted Padfoot. She took a moment to eye the dog apprehensively.

"I-Is that a Grim?" Ginny asked, pointing at Padfoot.

"Yes. There's no need to worry. He's domesticated." Samantha said with a slight smile.

Padfoot whined and looked up at her with what Daphne swore was almost like a scowl. "Friends of yours, boys?"

"Yes. Mother, this is Ginny Weasley and Daphne Greengrass." Blaise said, tilting his head in the girl's direction.

Ginny blushed a bit and bowed, Daphne hesitantly following suit. Samantha smiled at them. The sincere look of happiness seemed strange on her stoic features.

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Hogwarts was whirling with talk about Harry's fight with the Horntail. Out of the four champions, he was the only one to meet the dragon head-on instead of trying to find some way to outwit it. Younger boys were talking animatedly about it in the halls while girls would follow him around and melt when he smiled at them.

Ron Weasley was in a darker mood than usual whenever he saw Harry. He opened his mouth to say something only to let out a stranged noise when Hermione ran up to Harry and sat down next to him, causing Daphne to look at her in slight annoyance.

"Harry, what was the spell you used during the battle with the Horntail," Hermione said excitedly, "I've never seen it before. I mean, it wasn't a shield charm because it still knocked you backwards, but you got right up like it didn't even hurt."

Ginny looked curiously at the two boys. "That's right." She said.

Harry paused and glanced at Blaise. The two brothers held each other's eyes for a moment before turning to look at the girls again. "Have you heard of the Arcane?" Harry asked evenly.

"Arcane? That's old magic; the oldest there is." Hermione replied automatically, giving the impression that she had read it somewhere. "Magic comes from two places, right? Your reserves and the world. Of course, the World Magic – the Arcane – is purely theoretical at this point, since the last person who used it in recorded times was Merlin and his proteges, the Hogwarts Founders."

Harry nodded. "That's right. Arcane was the magic of Camelot. Comparing modern magic to arcane is like comparing a Comet to a Firebolt – if you'll excuse the Quidditch analogy." Ginny snickered. "The reason why wizards these days can't use it is because they've forgotten how. With normal magic, you call from your own reserves and shape it through a channel – your wand. Arcane, on the other hand, is almost purely wandless and only needs your mind to shape itself."

"But that's almost impossible," Daphne interjected, looking at Harry disbelievingly. "There are only a handful of people who are capable of wandless magic these days."

Blaise waved a hand. Soundlessly a book floated through the air and dropped into Ginny's hand. "I saw someone going through your bag earlier," He said. "It was hexed."

Ginny turned the book over and looked at Blaise in happiness and no small bit of relief. "My diary! Thank you so much, Blaise!" She grinned at him.

"You just used wandless magic." Daphne said faintly.

Blaise nodded slightly. "Our mother taught us the basics, but our grandfather taught us everything else."

"So that spell you used..." Hermione said, looking at Harry.

The black-haired boy smirked. "Yeah. It was Arcane."

"Why?" Daphne asked.

Harry looked at her with dark green eyes, and there was a glint in them that held nothing of the flippant humor that he had been expressing over the last few days. It was cold and calculated, with a feral amusement to it.

"Families like ours have old secrets, Daphne. And sometimes they have to be put to use."

**End Chapter**

**If any of you are wondering why Harry and Blaise decided to show Ginny, Hermione and Daphne that they can use Arcane magic, they're on a mission here and it involves Hogwarts itself. You can expect them to start something like the DA later in the story. Now, the next chapter involves the Ministry, the Death Eaters, Dumbledore's plans, Voldemort's plans, and Harry's first British assassination. **

**Read and Review please! **


	5. Chapter 5

**Wand, Knife and Silence**

**Moon: Ow. Ugh. (coughs roughly) I knew I should have gotten a flu shot. Hi everyone. Sorry I haven't updated sooner...I got sick. Anyway, here's the next chapter...I do not own Harry Potter and would be a good deal richer if I did.**

**Chapter 5: First Blood**

Never be the bearer of bad news. Severus Snape had learned this lesson long ago when he had started as a double agent for the Death Eaters; the Dark Lord's propensity for throwing Crucio around like was going out of style proved that. He stood aloof as the Dark Lord was holding a new Death Eater recruit under the torture curse, screaming curses at him.

"You just had to kill that damned woman! One old Auror in her own house! How difficult could that be? Answer!" Voldemort shouted, nearly frothing with rage.

The man – no, _boy – _under the curse just whimpered in response. Snape had seen many new Death Eaters been rendered completely helpless for days on end after being held under Crucio for only a minute. The Longbottoms had managed to last two hours, but it had rendered them completely insane and unrecognizable.

Snape figured it was only a matter of time before some of the Death Eaters in this room joined them, considering how badly they had mucked up their missions in Draco's fifth and sixth year.

Draco Malfoy. Snape had dodged a major bullet, as the muggles would say, trying to get that idiot boy out of the line of fire. With any luck, he'd have the sense to stay that way, now that his father and mother were in Azkaban and he'd gotten a taste of what the Dark Lord was really like.

Sixth year. Just thinking of that year nearly gave Snape a crippling headache. Sixth year had been a long string of disasters, including Albus putting that damned ring on and Snape having to cut the infected finger off to keep it from spreading. If it hadn't been for Astoria Greengrass, he probably would have failed Draco in the end. The girl had wandered into Draco's life after fifth year, and it couldn't have been better timed because knowing what the Death Eaters would probably do to her was what convinced Draco to admit the extent of his plans to Snape, allowing him to subvert and fix most of them.

Another scream from the boy brought Snape back to the present. He was starting to spit blood at this point. It happened to some people.

You had to build up a tolerance for extreme pain before you could say anything directly after a bout of Crucio. Besides, excuses usually just made their master angrier.

Fenrir Greyback let out an amused bark, probably expecting the boy to be fed to him and his wolves.

Snape could safely say that he despised the company he kept here even more than he had hated his drunken father, but he was the only spy who had managed to survive this long. The Order desperately needed the information, after being caught in a stalemate for two years. Even if he regularly had to sit through scenes like this, it would be worth it when they could finally bring the Dark Lord down.

The other Death Eaters in the room watched the pair uneasily, not wanting to step in and end up taking their fellow's place. Severus resisted the urge to curl his lip.

The boy's companion, Amycus Carrow, grimaced and said, "There were defenses we weren't expecting, my lord. Someone had visited her and upped the defenses."

Sure enough, Voldemort hit him with a Crucio. "Don't give me excuses, Carrow, give me results!" He shouted as the man fell over backwards.

Voldemort began to pace around the room. "We've gone for too long without making any true progress! We've established footholds in the Ministry, but as long as Amelia Bones and her supporters are in the DMLE we're at a disadvantage!"

None of the Death Eaters said anything to that.

Voldemort had ordered some of his Death Eaters to kill Amelia Bones on the same day as the First Task had occurred at Hogwarts. Snape dutifully returned to Hogwarts as fast as he could and reported this to Dumbledore.

The man said that there was little to nothing he could do about that, after the moron Fudge had the Ministry ban meetings of the Order of the Phoenix. Samantha Zabini, eyes flashing, shot out of her chair and said that she would assist Bones, if everyone else was too afraid, and left the room.

Obviously, whatever she had done had worked quite well, because the Death Eaters hadn't even managed breach the outer walls of the Bones mansion before the defenses kicked on. Only three Death Eaters made it back.

The boy – Marcus Flint, one of Snape's old students – gasped and struggled to his feet. "O...Of course, my lord. We... we will not fail again."

Voldemort looked down at Flint with narrowed eyes. "See to it that you don't, Flint. Your mother will know if you don't."

Marcus paled considerably, and Snape had to set his jaw.

Voldemort turned his attention to Severus, red eyes burning malevolently. His wand hand twitched, "Severus, you'd best have a good report to give me. What is the status of Hogwarts, and that doddering old fool?"

Snape took a deep breath and said, "My lord, Harry Potter has returned to Britain."

There was a sweeping murmur among the Death Eaters as this information hit them. Voldemort looked at Snape with slitted eyes, his shoulders going rigid at the very mention of the boy who had defeated him when he was a baby. "Go on," He ordered, voice harsh.

Snape nodded. "Apparently, he was adopted by an Italian pureblood family, the Zabini's. The mother, Samantha, fought alongside the Light forces, but she rarely agreed with Dumbledore's methods – she usually worked on her own, against his instructions. She's an assassin, and a deadly opponent. Any enemy that survived a battle with her were rarely in any shape to talk about it. Her blood son is the same age as Potter – a boy named Blaise. Zabini likely raised both of them in her family's trade. The way Potter handled his First Task leaves little doubt in my mind of his skill, though he has yet to display his full magical ability."

Voldemort watched Snape for several seconds. The potion's master was sure he was going to be cursed when the Dark Lord said, "Italian, you said?"

"Yes, my lord."

Voldemort stopped by the window, and stared out of it. "I've been slaving away to gain control of Britain, but it is merely my first step. By the time I've finally knocked down whatever pitiful resistance remains here, I intend to move on to the rest of the world."

"You wish me to sway Blaise to our ways and beliefs?" Snape asked.

Voldemort gave a feral grin. "Begin as discreetly as possible, Severus. Do not do enough to clue him into your plans. But yes, start with him and some of the other visiting students. It would be useful to have a foothold in the other countries before I begin my assault there."

"This country is already half broken by fear," Alecto Carrow said. "I doubt it will hold for much longer away from your brilliance, my lord. The Ministry is too cowardly to do anything and the population follow their every word like lost sheep. But perhaps Dumbledore wishes to use Zabini as a means to call for oversea help. Shall we begin searching for sympathizers in Italy?"

"Not yet." Voldemort said. "Wait until after we've toppled the Ministry. Then, I will send you and your brother – provided you're still alive – into Italy."

Alecto looked beyond delighted. To give the first to bring blood supremacy into another country was a big honour for a Death Eater, and perhaps if she preformed that well the Dark Lord would share the secret of Immortality with her and Amycus.

"Though...I admit you raise a point." Voldemort's eyes flicked back to Severus. "Has the old man told you exactly what his plans for the Potter boy are?"

"I imagine he wishes to gain some influence over the boy, to mold him into the weapon he had intended him to be originally, before Samantha took him out of the country." Snape said. "I'm thinking he may have deliberately weakened the protective wards around the Goblet so Karkeroff could put the boy's name in."

"Humph. The old fool must be feeling his age, if he thinks that just living in Hogwarts will make Potter his devoted servant." Fenrir chuckled, his voice rough and doglike. This sent a ripple of derisive laughter through the ranks of Voldemort's followers.

"How pure is the family blood?" Voldemort asked calmly, silencing the crowd with a twitch on his wand hand.

"Samantha's mother Sonia was a half blood, her father Rupert was pure. His father was a pureblood and so on; Sonia Zabini was from a relatively new family. Samantha's first husband, Blaise's father, was a pureblood, though he died shortly after their marriage. And you know about Potter already."

_Lily_. Snape struggled to maintain a calm face as he once again remembered his worst mistake. Slipping up about that would be fatal. And it nearly had been a few times.

Voldemort started pacing again, "Do you know if Zabini has plans to blood-adopt Potter?"

"It's possible," Snape responded, "But she has spent little time in the castle itself, and she rarely spoke in the hours when she had been there. If she has plans, she's keeping them to herself."

"Keep an eye on the entire family. Get closer to them, and if possible bring them to our side. If not, see to it that they are delivered to me." Voldemort snapped. Snape bowed his head in acceptance of this task, careful that the Dark Lord wouldn't be able to see past his Occlumency shields. He would have been in trouble if he hadn't.

"As for the _rest of you_-" He turned and fired a curse into the crowd, making them scatter, "I want Amelia Bones dead! I want her supporters dead or rendered irrelevant! _See to it, and do not fail me again!_"

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Amelia Bones Floo'ed to work that day thinking about yesterday's events. There was a lot on her mind, and for the first time in a while she was grateful that Susan was at Hogwarts instead of their home. The idea of her niece being inside her house while it was being attacked made her feel slightly ill.

She'd heard from the Prophet, of course, about Harry Potter's adoption – that bloody paper had been printing literally nothing else ever since the boy's return to Britain three days ago. Rita Skeeter, of course, had been one of the loudest opinions, especially when it came to the boy's adoptive mother, Samantha Zabini.

With all the talk about Harry, it was inevitable that the question of how Samantha had come across the boy in the first place would pop up. People were asking where Harry had been left and why exactly would the woman have felt the need to take him away from the house he had been sent to. Conspiracy theories were being thrown around left and right, some involving Dumbledore or the Ministry or both.

Few of them were flattering.

One paper – the Quibbler – seemed to think that Zabini had heroically rescued Harry from ignorant, abusive muggle relatives that his magical guardian had inexplicably left him with.

Fudge had wanted the Zabini family investigated, and Amelia had had to remind him and his Undersecretary, Umbridge, repeatedly, that the Zabini's were foreign tourists, and forcibly investigating them without due cause would likely bring down the wrath of the Italian government.

Fudge's hold on his post was already shaky due to his denial of Voldemort's return, which the Dark Lord had promptly proven false by getting caught attacking Dumbledore within he Ministry building itself. He likely wouldn't survive another scandal, such as illegally investigating a foreign noble family.

Fudge had blustered and stammered and done a whole lot of blowing hot air, but had eventually conceded to this, although he insisted that someone keep an eye on the alleged Black Widow.

It was probably lucky for Umbridge that Samantha wouldn't hear the things she was saying; they were so shamelessly racist the head of the DMLE wouldn't have been surprised if the Zabini family head killed her on the spot.

After the woman had left the room, Amelia had a vague feeling that she was being watched – by a very angry individual. But when she looked around, she could see that the room was empty.

Fudge was the reason Amelia was starting to hate her job. The man had refused to do anything of value about the very real threat of Voldemort that was now looming on the horizon, such as search people for the Dark Mark or pull the 'noble families' in for inspection.

She had requested an increase of Aurors, more legroom to make arrest warrants – all these things had been denied by Fudge, who claimed that the Ministry's current standing was 'more than enough'.

The people under him were either too scared of a potential second war, or too dumb to think for themselves, Amelia decided.

It wasn't until her own mansion had been attacked yesterday that they had their first documented war crime; Amelia was sure there were others but they were being covered up. A lot of media was going into the Tri-Wizard tournament, being held at Hogwarts.

This year, it had an inexplicable fourth member, and there was no doubt in Amelia's mind as to why. Harry, the Boy-Who-Lived returning to Britain was surely a sign that the Death Eaters were about to make a new assault. Harry had been the one to vanquish the Dark Lord all this years ago; it only made sense to remove him from the equation before their true assault.

Amelia owed Samantha Zabini her life. The woman had visited her and strengthened her wards hours before the Death Eaters assaulted her house. Without that help, she probably would have died – the Death Eaters in question were using unregistered wands, so they were using more powerful spells and curses without fear of being identified or traced.

Amelia had held out until her Aurors arrived to help. They captured most of the Death Eaters and marched them into the Ministry. To her dismay, most of them got off under technicalities, despite their role in the attack.

Fudge had stepped in on the ruling, and thanks to Dumbledore being at his school instead of the court, he was not overturned.

Amelia grit her teeth as she took her seat in the DMLE office. She was completely tied up by these incompetent idiots. If only there was something she could do about it. Unfortunately, Fudge's popularity had managed to hold out despite its beating.

Dumbledore was willing to fight the Death Eaters, but the old man had a crippling flaw. He seemed to labour under the delusion that Death Eaters could simply be 'corrected' and sent back into society as upstanding citizens. So he forbid any of the people following him from killing the Death Eaters they defeated.

How did that old man expect to win a war like that! People like Severus Snape – people willing to admit they had done wrong, and have the spine to do something about it – were not easy to come by. Many of the people who followed Voldemort would just take advantage of such mercy – the Malfoy's had proved that dozens of times over until they were finally arrested again! Ginny Weasley was lucky to have escaped death during the attacks in second year, which were all thanks to Lucius Malfoy.

Amelia sighed, put down her paperwork and put her face in her hands.

Until Fudge was removed as Ministry of Magic she couldn't see one damned thing she could do about any of these very real problems.

She thought about her niece, Susan, taking her last year at Hogwarts. If she couldn't keep this country safe, she should try and evacuate her...maybe they could go to America.

Amelia went through her files. Before she had left, Samantha had said something about Sirius Black that made her uneasy. "_Are you so sure? Was Black ever given a trial?_"

She went through the papers until she eventually dug up Black's file. After Samantha saved her, she owed it to her to at least take her question into consideration.

She opened the file. Sure enough, no trial. Amelia groaned and felt her headache increase. She called her secretary and asked her to bring a calming draught. She had known that there were a few things that had gone wrong in the chaos following Voldemort's defeat, but as a rule they didn't throw people into Azkaban without a trial.

And if he was Voldemort's utterly reprehensible right hand man, would it not have been prudent to question Black quite thoroughly? Wouldn't he have known that his master was capable of returning? About his secrets and his followers? If they had just questioned him...they could have found out so many things...perhaps this whole situation could have been averted.

Because the alternative did not bear thinking about. The alternative was that they had thrown Sirius Black in jail for something he might not have committed at all.

Amelia grimaced, tapping her fingers against the desk. The only other person who had seen the attack who hadn't been obliviated like the muggles who had witnessed the event was Peter Pettigrew. And a bloody lot of good that would do her, since the man had died. He was killed by Sirius.

Or was he? The only thing they had found was a bit of his finger. There had definitely been a magical explosion, one that kicked up a lot of dust. Could Peter have lost a bit of his finger but managed to Apparate away in the confusion?

There were no easy answers to any of these questions. It felt very extreme, these guesses. She wouldn't know anything unless she was able to reopen the case for investigation.

She really didn't have anything to go on involving Sirius's case. Unless...

Unless she somehow convinced him to leave Pensieve memories for the Ministry? Memories could be checked for falseness, so it could give her the answer she was looking for. Amelia thought that over. Contrary to what the Ministry liked to say, they really didn't know where Black was and they were no closer to finding him.

%&%&%&%&%&%&%&%&

Cornelius Fudge was not having a good day.

The return of Harry Potter to Britain should have been a good thing for him, since he had sponsored the Tri-Wizard tournament that the boy's name had come out of. But he had come back with an adoptive family in tow and people were asking more questions that he didn't want to answer.

Being a politician, he catered to the saying 'just tell people what they want to hear'. It had been working for years until that damnable time when Voldemort had come back.

Cornelius was fairly certain that Dumbledore could do something about Voldemort, if he could be bothered to get up off his throne-like chair and rejoin society. Besides, most of the people who had followed Voldemort were now upstanding members of society, and all of his ministry people were loyal to him.

He stood back in his office, completely alone, enjoying a drink of butterbeer and waiting for Umbridge to come talk to him. He had put a lot of effort into possibly getting her moved back into Hogwarts as a moniter for the tournament – it _was _Ministry-funded, after all.

Cornelius smiled at Umbridge as she walked into the room, holding two glasses of firewhisky. "Ah, Umbridge. Thank you." He accepted the glass from her and took a deep brink. As nice as butterbeer was, it didn't have the punch that firewhisky did.

"You've got to do something about that woman," Umbridge said, and Fudge didn't have to ask to know she was referring to Amelia. "She's an upstart, protecting that foreign line-stealer."

"Amelia is popular with those who think open war against the Death Eaters is our best option," Fudge said hesitantly. "I would like to, but as it turns out there are more of those people about than I'd like."

"Probably thanks to that doddering, senile old fool, Dumbledore," Umbridge sneered. "If he's the oh-so venerated Head of the ICW, why doesn't he just make our problem disappear, if it's that serious?"

"I don't think it's quite as serious as he makes it out to be," Fudge agreed, taking another drink and shuffling the papers on his desk. "Most of You-Know-Who's followers are now respected members of society. They've turned their backs on the old ways. And if the Dark Lord was so powerful, he would have attacked by now. He must fear the Ministry's strength."

Umbridge laughed. "Of course, Minister, you're quite right. Now, you wanted to see me?"

"Ah, yes." Fudge picked up the knife he'd been using to cut apples and moved it aside, gesturing to a number of papers. "I was rather hoping you'd be open to going back to Hogwarts to observe the Tri-Wizard tournament."

"With pleasure, Minister," Umbridge said, eyes narrowing dangerously. "I've been meaning to get back at the Weasley brat and her brainwashed friend Greengrass for all the trouble they gave me back in fifth year."

Fudge wisely neglected to comment on the fact that his Undersecretary had been outwitted and humiliated at nearly every turn by students lead chiefly by a pair of fifth years. That had been embarrassing in and of itself, nevermind that the Granger bitch revealing that he had authorized the use of a Blood Quill on underage students.

The revelation that the older Greengrass heir sided with the Weasley girl and by extension Albus Dumbledore was a sore point for Fudge, who had originally had the girl's father as a benefactor. But Daniel had pulled his support when his daughter told him that she was being wounded by Umbridge.

"Do try to remain discreet, Umbridge. We're in a fairly tenuous position as it is." Fudge said. "The tournament attracts a lot of publicity. We could use this to gain momentum for the changes we want. We have to appear more than presentable."

"And it will get us closer to the Potter heir." Umbridge concluded. "Unless that dark-skinned woman adopted him?"

"Harry has gone on record to state that he has kept his family name, though he officially is Samantha Zabini's ward." Fudge responded, taking another large drink of firewhisky.

This was a mistake.

Something sharp and painful hit Fudge's stomach. He gasped, clutched his stomach, and dropped the tankard, which hit the ground and shattered. He tried to stand up, but his legs felt as though they were made of water, and he hit the ground with a thud. The pain was rapdily spreading through his stomach and up towards his throat, burning as though he was swallowed boiling water.

Umbridge opened her mouth to scream, but no noise came out. She put a hand on her throat and went for her wand, but it was gone.

There was a snapping noise, and four pieces of wood clattered to the ground.

Umbridge tried to move towards the door, but a heavy black boot materialized from nowhere and came down on her wrist, effectively stopping her where she was.

"What...is...happening..." Fudge managed to choke out.

"It's simple, Minister," The boot was attached to a person dressed entirely in black, a hood up shadowing his features. "You're dying."

Fudge tried to say something, anything, disbelief and panic swirling inside him. But all that came out was a ragged gasping noise.

The figure gave a tsk of annoyance. "It's a very rare poison, too...I hadn't meant to squander most of my stock on the likes of you, but this place is surprisingly well-guarded. Considering that it's staffed by either corrupt or incompetent individuals."

"What...are...you...doing? I...am...the...Minister...of...Magic!" Fudge gasped, trying to sound furious, but his voice was getting worse as the fire spread to his throat.

"No. You're a liability." The figure – no, boy – responded coolly. His voice was young...was that an Italian accent? "You're only giving the Dark Lord all the openings he needs to gain control of the Ministry. There are already several sleeper agents in high positions that you yourself appointed them to – kind of like this sorry piece of shit." He twisted his heel on Umbridge's wrist, causing her to open her mouth in what was probably a cry of pain.

"That's...impossible..."

"Not hardly, _Minister_," The boy responded tauntingly. "Have no fear – my brother is taking care of these mistakes as I speak. Soon we'll have someone far more appropriate for the job in your position, as both you and your Undersecretary will be dead by indeterminate causes within the next minute."

Fudge tried to say more, but his throat would no longer allow it. The world around him was beginning to haze over at the edges. "Who..._how_..."

The boy chuckled and drew back his hood. Rich black hair was neatly held back behind his ears as Harry Zabini smirked down at a gaping Umbridge. "Let this be a lesson to you, bitch. No one disrespects my mother."

%&%&%&%&%&%&%&%&%&

Blaise Zabini slit the throat of the bound Yaxley, watching dispassionately as blood splattered his gloves. He grabbed the corpse and levitated it over to the pile of seven bodies he and Harry had gone through.

Blaise couldn't help but remember how nervous and jumpy Harry had been on his first mission – and how long it had taken him to finally come out of the shower after his first kill. It had taken his mother and grandmother much convincing to explain the fallacies of moral equivalency, and taking him to the square the next day to see the man's victims joyfully reuniting with their family to drive home why he had killed the man.

Sometimes he needed reminders of why they did what they did, too. Blaise curled his lip in disgust as he glanced towards the bloody, unconscious muggleborn girl he had found in the man's closet. Medea knew how long that poor girl had been missing. Thankfully, he had his mother on standby to transport the girl to St. Mugo's.

A second later, Blaise felt the shadows shift, and Harry appeared by his side.

He did a double take when he saw the dark-haired girl on the table, before angry realization crossed his face. "He was keeping her here. Right inside this damned building." He spat on Yaxley's corpse.

"It's worse then mother thought." Blaise said grimly. "I'm beginning to think we should have let our Duelling class to come with us. He would have been really confident of his master's control over the Ministry to keep her here. It's possible there might be another inside his mansion."

"It's guaranteed," Harry said in disgust. "Men like them never change."

Blaise said nothing to this, but activated the portkey, dropping it on the pile of bodies. They vanished. "They'll turn up at a muggle garbage dump. Fitting, I'd say," He said with some satisfaction. Harry grinned with vindictive agreement.

Glancing at his younger brother, Blaise added, "Your high-priority targets?"

"Dead," Harry confirmed. "Set up just like you wanted. The poison will have burned itself out by the time their bodies are examined."

Blaise shook his head. "You should have saved that, Harry."

"I didn't use all of it, Blaise." Harry walked over to the girl and gently touched her bruised face. "She must have just graduated." He muttered, before carefully lifting her off the table. "Does mother know?"

"Of course. She's waiting at the return point," Blaise said. Harry nodded and closed his eyes. The two boys vanished without a trace from the office.

%&%&%&%&%&%&%&%&%&%&

Samantha spat a curse in Japanese when she saw the girl Harry was carrying. She took the victim from her son and said, "What's the name of the piece of filth?"

"Yaxley." Blaise responded.

"I'll sweep his mansion on my way back. It might be a _habit _of his," Samantha said coldly. She looked down at the girl's face, and murmured, "Poor thing. She must have just graduated." After a moment, she looked back at her sons. "Is it done?"

"The Minister is out." Harry confirmed. "So is his toad."

"Two of my intended targets didn't come to work today." Blaise said. "But the rest are dead and gone. Shall we start fixing the system so Bones is made Minister?"

"Wait and observe. It may not be necessary, but we will move if she has a serious contender." Samantha said. "I doubt that anyone else would be willing to take the steps she would." She looked at Blaise. "The two missing?"

"The Carrow siblings." Blaise responded, grimacing when he said the name. "They applied for teaching subjects at Hogwarts, but Dumbledore managed to fill the posts they asked for."

"Any word on the Lestrange siblings?" Harry asked.

Samantha shook her head. "Bellatrix, her husband and brother-in law are staying close to the Dark Lord." She said. "We will have to meet them in battle."

"I don't like the sound of that," Harry muttered. He hated open, pitched battles; he wasn't pathetic in them but he was much better at fighting when he had the element of surprise and the best environment to use his talents.

"If we're careful, it might not come to that," Samantha said, as though Harry had spoken his fears aloud. "I believe that the Dark Lord means to tie his first assault on Britain into the Tri-Wizard tournament you've been entered in. If we can paralyse his forces before the Third Task, there may not be a massive battle."

Blaise nodded. Samantha vanished in portkey to St. Mugo's, and both boys returned to Hogwarts with a _pop_.

Harry stepped into the hallway that lead to his room and paused at the door to their dorms. "Blaise?"

"Yes?" Blaise blinked and glanced at his brother.

"Would you say that Voldemort has sympathizers within the school itself?" Harry asked, hand on the doorknob.

"I...it's a bit early to tell. But you have a point." Blaise realized, his eyes flicking down the hallway. "Perhaps we should ask Daphne tomorrow what the feel in Slytherin is. That was the house Voldemort was in when he was taking lessons here."

"There could be a few in the other houses." Harry murmured, gears turning inside his head. "If Dumbledore thinks that people can simply be 'redeemed' by giving them a free pass, he could be turning a blind eye to their behaviour. There could be some in the other three houses as well. We can't afford to discount them."

"Of course." Blaise said. "You focus on trying to figure out the puzzle of that egg. I'll keep both eyes on the crowds."

"Should we tell the girls?" Harry asked hesitantly.

Blaise raised an eyebrow. "You want to admit to our profession? We've been here for a week, Harry."

"True enough," Harry admitted. "But if we stay friends with them, they're going to find out eventually. Our Duelling class did."

Blaise sighed and thought of what Ginny might have said if she'd seen him cut Yaxley's throat. He frowned at the thought and shook his head. "We'll cross that bridge when we reach it. For now, we should get some rest."

**End Chapter**

**If I had to name one problem I had with the Order of the Phoenix, it's that we never see them do anything other than react. We never see them save anyone or do anything offensive. It's like they're just waiting for Harry to do something (and we see how well that worked out in book five...) It won't be like that here, no. And yes, the girl Blaise saved was Katie Bell. I don't think it was ever explicitly stated that she was a pureblood, so here she's a muggleborn.**

**Read and Review please!**


	6. Chapter 6

**Wand, Knife and Silence**

**Moon: Hello everyone. I'm sorry if this chapter seems a little clunky, but I wrote this chapter sandwitched between a good deal of homework and recovering from the cold I mentioned last chapter. I was halfway through it when I realized I had forgotten about the Yue Ball. My brain is lame. Well, here's the next chapter. I do not own Harry Potter.**

**Chapter 6: Information and Preparation**

Ginny couldn't help but notice that both Harry and Blaise seemed a little...off, when they came down to the Great Hall for breakfast. Outwardly, they were their usual selves, but both boys looked slightly tired, and surveyed the other students coming in and out with a grim expression.

They weren't the only ones. When the owls delivered the Daily Prophet the next day, several people were absent from the hall. People were chattering and pointing at their copies, some looking serious while others seemed as though they were tentatively beginning to hope.

"Hi Blaise," Ginny said, hoping to find out what was wrong. "You okay?"

Blaise glanced at her, looking slightly surprised. "Uh, yes." He rubbed the side of his head. "I just had some trouble sleeping." Harry, having sat down to breakfast, nodded in acknowledgement of her presence, focused on his meal and staring at the golden egg he had stolen from the dragon.

Ginny shrugged and sat down at her usual seat."Is it just me, or do they look tired?" She asked Daphne when her friend walked over and sat down heavily next to her.

For a second, it looked like the blonde hadn't heard her; she was absorbed in her copy of the Daily Prophet. Then she looked up and glanced in the direction of the two boys. The cold suspicion on her face startled Ginny. "Daphne?"

"Is it possible?" Daphne muttered. She pushed the newspaper into Ginny's hands. "Something's happened at the Ministry."

Ginny picked up the paper slowly, staring at the headline.

**Dark Lord Sleeper Agents In Ministry Offices All Found Dead**

**Cornelius Fudge and Doloris Umbridge found dead in the Minister Offices, Causes Undetermined**

**Muggleborn Captive Finally Located**

_In this developing story, fourty-two Ministry employes in high offices were killed within the building. Their bodies were eventually found in a nearby garbage dump, and the investigating aurors were stunned to discover that all of these people had the Dark Mark on their arms, hidden by a concealment spell. This same morning, Minister Cornelius Fudge and his Undersecretary Umbridge were found on lifeless the floor of Fudge's office, eyes glazed. _

_ "It's bewildering, to be frank, I can't tell what killed them," Stated Autopsy/Healer Andrea Abbot, one of the most renowned Healers in Europe. "Whatever it was burned itself out in the time it took us to find their bodies. I'd say it was some sort of plant-based poison, but there isn't enough left over for me to be certain. It was had clearly been put in their drinks, but even a revealing charm hasn't yielded results." _

_ This finding of bodies – all clearly deep cover agents – is a disturbing breach of security. Despite the Dark Lord Voldemort's dramatic return to the wizarding world two years ago, Minister Fudge had insisted that there was no need for mobilization or sweeping arrests. He claimed that most of the man's forces had been either been locked away, or had become upstanding members of society who rejected their old habits. What was found today clearly undermines this belief, and has left many crying for and outright war. _

_ "If they had gone unnoticed for much longer, there would have been Death Eaters in every high-ranking office," Amelia Bones, Head of the Department of Magical Law Enforcement, has a grim opinion of all of this. She herself had narrowly dodged an assassination attempt a bare two days earlier. "The bastard could have walked right into the Ministry after that and taken control with little to no resistance. There's no way this was an accident; the man's planning a takeover of all wizarding Britain – who else has he subverted? I will be having an overview of everyone under my chain of command to root out sympathizers; I strongly recommend that others do the same." _

_ The few honest members of the Ministry who managed to dodge this purge seem to agree with her. The Ministry is facing a collective overview starting this Saturday; anyone found sharing the pureblood supremacy worldview will be fired and put on surveillance unless they have committed crimes in the Dark Lords name. Then they will be thrown in Azkaban after a trial. _

_ Perhaps most disturbingly of all, Katie Bell, a recent muggleborn graduate of Hogwarts who'd gone missing, has been rushed to St. Mugo's by an unidentified party sporting serious injuries and clear signs of long time imprisonment. One of the Death Eaters killed, had been keeping her locked up in a closet inside his office. Within the Ministry itself! The man's house has been stormed, three other muggleborns have been moved into intensive care with potential psychological damage as well as physical done. This has been added to the long list of brutalities committed by the Death Eaters, though this reporter is happy to state that Katie Bell will make a full recovery. We're waiting on word of the other children._

_ Now, the question on everyone's mind is, who killed these men and women? Aurors on the scene have stunningly little to go on, only that there were at least two people involved. _

_ "Whoever did this has experience," Auror Nympadora Tonks reported from the scene, having just examined Fudge and Umbridge. "They don't have registered wands and used as little traceable magic as possible – all their victims had their throats slit. They must have portkeyed straight in and out without activating any of the defensive wards. Clever bastards, whoever they are." _

_ Few people are shedding tears for the death of the current Minister. Katie Bell's torturous nine month imprisonment is becoming a rallying point among muggleborns and half bloods. People are crying out for someone who will lead them into battle against the Dark Lord. Whoever that person is will be decided in a few week's time._

Ginny set the paper down, her eyes on the list of Death Eaters that had been killed, heart pounding while a myriad of emotions whirled through her. This was insane – this was more then anything her father had hoped for! Arthur had told Dumbledore about some of the names on this list, and the man had done nothing. He had claimed that they didn't have the skills or the leeway to attack them, because he supposedly couldn't do anything overt within the walls of the Ministry.

And yet someone had. Someone had gone through every Death Eater within the building. And then he or she had left without ever being seen or identified.

Ginny had been friends with Katie. They'd spent half of her school year together on the Quidditch team together, and the girl had been like an older sister to her. She'd spent what felt like years worrying when none of her letters were answered after her graduation. And now she knew it was because Katie had been kidnapped by a sick old Death Eater.

Anger flared up inside her, anger towards Fudge for sticking his head in the sand, anger towards the Death Eaters who enjoyed this shit, anger towards Dumbledore for _insisting _that they do nothing offensive. If they weren't going to be offensive, how could they bloody well do _anything _of value?

"At least she'll get better," Ginny murmured, thinking about a get-well present she might send Katie. It was possible the other victims wouldn't be that lucky.

"Yeah, well she got lucky." Daphne said darkly. "Too much longer and she probably would have ended up like Neville's parents. It's sick."

There was a yelp further down the table. Ginny and Daphne turned towards the noise; Blaise had knocked Harry's goblet over, spilling the contents over his food. Harry yelped in protest.

"Love potion," His brother explained, not sounding the least bit sorry. "Nobody drink from that pitcher." He indicated the orange pot.

Colin Creevy, who'd been watching Harry eagerly, dropped his drink as though the cup was covered in acid. Harry looked embarrassed, muttering that he should have noticed that. "How?" He asked Blaise.

"I could smell it." Blaise responded dryly. "This is hardly the first time this has happened, Harry."

Harry muttered something again when McGonagall came running down the hall to deal with the spiked pitcher. "You could have vanished it," He said sulkily.

"And miss out on the look on your face?" Blaise fired back, smirking when Harry glared at him. This earned laughter from some other lions.

Ginny giggled at the spectacle. "Want to bet it was Romilda Vane?" She asked Daphne rhetorically. "I swear I thought she was going to choke on her drool when Harry first walked into Charms."

"Oh, it's definitely her." Daphne said; she tried to keep her tone dry but she was smirking ever so slightly. "Just look," She jerked her head to the right. Sure enough, Vane was scowling as McGonagall vanished the pitcher.

Ginny's face grew serious as she returned her attention to the "Fudge and Umbridge are gone, too. No more sticking our heads in the sand pretending there isn't a problem and no more toadying, child-torturing psychopath." She said happily, a dark grin on her face. "This is a bloody miracle. I could kiss whoever did this."

Neither girl noticed, but Blaise and Harry, having overhead this, blushed slightly and abruptly looked down at the food on the table.

Quietly, Daphne muttered, "I have a few theories."

Ginny blinked and turned to face Daphne. "You think so?" She said, surprised. "Do you think it's an Auror member? I mean, we both know Dumbledore's insisting that we _take prisoners _for some unfathomable reason, do you think one of them just – "

"No," Daphne said with a scowl. She hadn't ever believed in the Order of the Phoenix, unlike Ginny. She had said that they were ineffective and got by mostly by lucky breaks and monumental acts of stupidity on Voldemort's part. "There's no way any member of Dumbledore's personal fanclub would do something that would risk disappointing him. Besides, none of them have the skills that could help them pull this off."

"Mad-Eye probably could," Ginny pointed out. The grizzled old auror was probably the most intimidating person she'd ever met, including her mother. She always felt like his false eye followed her whenever she was in the room.

"True," Daphne admitted, "But this doesn't seem to be his style, and I don't think anyone as paranoid as Moody would enter the Ministry and risk getting caught. It was a rather brazen move, killing and then getting out past the guards and the wards."

"Yeah," Ginny murmured, looking down at the moving pictures on the paper again. "Who could have accomplished something like that anyway? With the incident with the prophecy, the wards went off almost immediately."

"Trained assassins." Daphne responded flatly. "Getting past wards, killing silently – stuff like this is part of their trade. It's the only thing that makes sense."

Ginny tucked her red hair behind her right ear. "So you think we have some assassins on our side?" She asked hopefully. Dumbledore would never even consider taking an assassin into the Order of the Phoenix, but if they were willing to help...

Daphne looked momentarily as though Ginny had derailed her train of thought. She had done that many times before. "It's possible." She said. "But we can't be sure yet – not until we know who they are. I think they aren't very far away at all."

Ginny frowned. Daphne had always been good with connecting seemingly unrelated details – that was how she'd saved her from the diary. But the implications of that statement were a bit much for her. Students of Hogwarts, assassins? Come on.

It escaped the notice of everyone else at the table, but at this point Harry stood up rather abruptly, looked around before picking up the egg, muttering something to Blaise. With that, he turned on his heels and walked out of the hall, several girls watching him leave with great interest. Then he left the hall. Blaise nodded before getting up himself, casting an unreadable look down the table before leaving.

%&%&%&%&%&%&%&%&%&%&

Blaise let out his breath as he walked through the hallways. Inside, he was a lot less calmer then he looked.

How the Medea's name could Daphne Greengrass have guessed that he and Harry were the ones in the Ministry? They had been so careful to cover their tracks; not leaving Hogwarts until after everyone else was asleep, getting back before daybreak. Both he hand Harry had gotten used to operating on only four hours of sleep whenever a situation called for it. There could be dozens of reasons a teenager looked rather tired, of course.

Had mother's reputation preceded her? Their family were only known confirmed assassins to those both above and below ground who would seek their services. Even in their homeland, Samantha's reputation was mostly rumor and circumstance to anyone who didn't know better.

_Stay calm, Blaise!_

Blaise took a deep breath, and thought very carefully about what he'd overheard of Ginny and Daphne's conversation. Harry had wanted to know what they thought about their little 'cleanup' duty in the Ministry, and he had privately admitted he wanted to know as well.

There wasn't any real indication that Daphne suspected them – not yet. They'd have to be a little more careful around her, but her suspicions would be weak...easily defused with careful work. It had happened before.

But hadn't he himself told Harry that the girls would figure it out eventually? It was always the risk you took when you were in a hostile environment. Their friends back at Verona had found out.

_But will these students be so receptive_? Blaise wondered, looking down at his left hand. He could almost feel Yaxley's blood dripping off his fingers as if he'd never washed it off. The squeaky noise of blood on his gloves sometimes rang in his head like a gong when he was having a shower.

_Whatever good our actions do, however terrible the people we destroy are, we are still killers. That's why I never understood why Harry wanted so many friends. That's why I never had a long term relationship. Could you imagine falling in love with someone, and then have her walk in on you killing one of your targets? She'd be horrified...sickened... she'd see a monster. _

Blaise shook his head. _Focus on the problem, Zabini. You have to-_

"Bastard!"

There was an enormous crash in Harry's room, followed by the noise of small objects being smashed into tiny pieces.

Startled by the noise, Blaise instinctively bolted into the room and came to a halt, staring at the mess. His younger brother had taken a muggle baseball bat to the golden egg and was pulverizing the gold object as though it was responsible for killing his familiar. The desk it had been sitting on had been broken down the middle, and all the bookshelves were trembling like there was a mini earthquake. His composure and upbeat personalty had deserted him.

"Harry!" Blaise yelled, shaken by the display. Harry was rarely ever this upset, no matter what happened. When he was, something was seriously wrong.

Instinctively, he put a hand on Harry's arm to keep him from further brutalizing the egg.

In a flash, Harry had Blaise's wrist in a vicegrip, startling the older boy further. Harry spun around and stared at Blaise with burning green eyes, hammer still in his other hand. His hair fell around his face in a way that gave him the look of a wild animal. "Damn the person who put my name in the goblet and damn whoever came up with this – stupid – bloody – trials! I won't do this! I won't!"

"Harry! Harry, calm down!" Blaise barked, taking his brother's hand in his free one. He could tell that his wrist would be bruised from this episode.

"Calm down?" Harry snarled, glaring down at the egg. The rumbling in the room grew more pronounced.

"Harry, you're loosing your control over your magic. You have to calm down!" Blaise said urgently. Harry's control over his magic was a barrelfull of snakes you didn't want to let loose. They'd learned that fast when he was younger.

Harry stood frozen for a few long moments. Slowly, the rumbling ceased, and the room stopped rattling. Harry relaxed his grip on Blaise's wrist. The boy sighed and rubbed his wrist. Burning emerald eyes blinked twice and then focused on his brother's wrist.

"I'm sorry about that." He murmured.

"It's fine." Blaise said. "Now what's wrong? You figured out the riddle." He guessed. He couldn't imagine what could drive Harry to such an emotional extreme.

Harry took a deep breath, before gesturing towards the remains of the egg. "Yes, I figured out the riddle." He said, sounding worried and bone tired, which only served to worry Blaise more. "The second task involves the lake."

Blaise raised an eyebrow. "The lake? There's a colony of mermen in there."

"There is." Harry took a deep breath. "The mermen will have four hostages. Hostages are the one person who means the most to you inside the school. We have an hour to rescue you."

"And...oh." Blaise's eyes cleared. "You think I'm going to be your hostage."

"Think?" Harry said, agitated, looking up from the floor towards Blaise. His eyes were burning passionately again; hurt flashed in them. "Blaise, do you have any idea what you mean to me? Your my brother. For years, you were my only friend. Even after I made friends and started flirting with girls you were still my first priority, for all those times when you protected me. You've always had my back when I needed you. What if I fail? What if you get injured? Or drown? Mermen aren't very friendly!"

Blaise blinked a few times, startled by the power of Harry's response. His brother was always so relaxed and casual that outbursts like this never failed to catch him by surprise.

Then he released Harry's hand and pulled him into a tight hug.

"It's alright." Blaise said, rubbing his brother's shoulders. "It'll be fine, Harry."

"Easily said," Harry mumbled into Blaise's shoulder, his voice now quiet and not entirely steady. "I hate water."

Of course that particular memory could affect Harry's performance. Blaise resisted the urge to shiver himself. Right now, Harry needed to focus on something positive. "I know you'll find me, Harry." Blaise said comfortingly. "You're smart. It isn't the most dangerous thing you've had to do, and besides, I trust you."

Harry hung in Blaise's arms for a long minute. Then he said, "I'll need some supplies for the water. I have to be under for an hour."

"I know." Blaise said. "I'll help you."

Eventually Harry untangled himself from Blaise and managed to smile. "Thanks, Blaise." More quietly, he added, "What if I freeze up?"

"You _will _be fine." Blaise said firmly. "But I think you should tell mother. She might have some suggestions."

Harry's lips twitched. "I thought we weren't supposed to ask for help."

"We're not supposed to ask the school staff for help," Blaise said in amusement. "They didn't say we couldn't outsource anything."

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Sirius blinked when Samantha stepped inside the house with a Pensieve. "Hey Sam. Any words from the boys?"

"Yes, and not good ones," Samantha said darkly, placing the Pensieve on the main table. "This is for you, Sirius."

Sirius blinked and looked down at it. "We're creating a photo album?"

Samantha rolled her eyes and scowled at him. "Sirius, you don't have to act like a fool when we're alone. This is my first step to clearing your name."

Realization sank in fast. Sirius laughed. "You haven't changed at all, Sam. Who'd you talk into reviewing my case?"

"Amelia Bones," Samantha responded with a slight smirk. "It turns out my visit couldn't have been better timed; Dumbledore's wards are pathetic. That death eater attack would have killed her had I not adjusted them."

Sirius grimaced. "I'm beginning to think Dumbledore's taking an unrealistic approach to this war. Not just because I've been stuck in this damned house for three years." He glared at the walls. "That bloody house elf is as bad a presence as my dear mother used to be."

"The bonds between house elf and mistress can transfer undesirable elements," Samantha said with distaste. Neither of them had ever liked Kreacher; he had used to call Samantha insulting names for 'foreign blood' before he learned to keep his mouth shut on the subject.

Seriously, the dog animagus stopped laughing and said, "You said the boys didn't have good news. What's wrong?"

"The second task involves swimming in the lake," Samantha responded.

"And?"

"Harry is terrified of water." Samantha responded tartly. "There was an..._accident_ when he and Blaise were out on the lakefront. It was years ago...when they were younger. Something happened and he almost drowned. If I had arrived a second later, he probably would have. Even now, he can't go past his knees into water without panicking slightly. In this task, he'll have to go underwater and rescue his hostage before the hour is up."

There was a short period of silence.

"What the hell kind of trial is this?" Sirius demanded, eyes wide as a million potential disasters ran through his mind. "What if Harry has a panic attack while he's underwater?"

"I asked," Samantha responded bitterly. "If I had a choice, he wouldn't go at all, but the contract of the tournament will force them to go through it one way or another. And even if I somehow pulled Harry, his hostage is likely Blaise, and he'd be left underwater."

Sirius grimaced. Samantha wasn't one for showing her vulnerability, but he could practically taste her anxiety in the air.

"We'll have to think of something." Sirius decided with an air of authority. "I can slip him something in dog form if he goes outside before the second task."

Samantha's grateful smile was like a sunbeam in the darkness.

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"Mr. Potter? May I borrow you for a moment?" Harry halted his journey through the hall and turned around. Minerva McGonagall, a widely known Transfiguration expert, was standing near a doorway with an expectant look on her face.

Harry made a 'wait here' gesture to Blaise and walked over to the older woman. "Can I help you, Professor?"

McGonagall nodded slightly. "I'm here to inform you that the Yule Ball is scheduled to take place at this school. Some of your classmates will be joining you for the event." She paused, and then said, "As a Champion, you will be in need of an escort."

"A date?" Harry clarified, raising an eyebrow.

"Yes."

"Thank you, Miss. I have an idea of who to ask." Harry said, smiling.

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Daphne Greengrass blinked once, twice, and looked Harry up and down as though he were something bizarre and fantastic she was struggling to understand. "You're asking me to the Ylue Ball?" She repeated.

"Yes." Harry said. He frowned slightly. "Should I take that as a no?"

Pavarti Patil and Lavander Brown, having been pretending to be engaged in their own conversation, both leaned over on their chairs to hear better.

Daphne quickly shook her head. "Not at all. I'd be happy to accompany you."

Internally, Daphne's mind was spinning. She was the Ice Queen of Slytherin. Boys approached her at their own risk. And yet here was Harry Potter, who likely had girls falling over themselves for a chance to be his date, asking _her _to an extravagant ball?

Her already fragile universe had just become a whole lot more tenuous.

Harry flashed her a million dollar smile and said, "I'm glad to hear that." He took her hand, kissed it and then walked out of the room.

Daphne stood rooted to the spot, waiting for someone to tell her this was some sort of elaborate joke being made at her expense. When no one did, she discreetly looked around before running full tilt towards the Slytherin dorms.

Did she even have a dress?

Ginny was an angry young woman.

At this rate, she was never going to get a date to the ball. Ron was hovering over her like some unwanted extension of her mother, glaring death at any boy who got within ten feet of her despite her very serious threats to hex him if he didn't lay off. She'd meant to ask Neville, but thanks to Ron he'd been asked by Padma.

Ginny walked through the hall, cursing Ron. "Stupid overprotective git. What does he take me for?"

"Which overprotective git?" Ginny nearly jumped out of her skin. She spun around, wand in hand, only to see Blaise standing behind her.

He raised his hands defensively. Ginny lowered her wand, "Blaise! You startled me. How did you sneak up on me anyway?"

"I have my ways." Blaise said. His words were light, and he had a disarming smile on his face. Then – then he asked, "Do you by any chance have a date to the Yule Ball?"

"No," Ginny responded, her eye twitching at the reminder. "I have my overprotective git brother to thank for that. He's hardly left me alone since the announcement. This is the first peace I've gotten all day, and most people have dates."

"Then, would you give me pleasure of accompanying you?" Blaise asked politely.

Ginny could hardly believe her luck. "I'd love that. Thanks."

**End Chapter**

**Well, the Yue Ball is up next, and Ron will be embarrassed trying to ask out Hermione...who will end up meeting another recurring character next chapter.**

**Read and Review please!**


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